Bull Creek Wind Facility

Alberta Schools Wind Power Initiative

The power from our Bull Creek Wind Facility is sold to several of Alberta’s rural school boards through an agreement with the Alberta Schools Commodities Purchasing Consortium (CPC).

In 2005, the Alberta Schools CPC began a power purchasing strategy to reduce exposure to volatile energy costs by fixing those costs through long-term power purchase contracting. The program allowed the schools to bundle their energy consumption and proactively choose the terms of their energy contracting rather than react to market conditions.

Exposure to volatile energy prices can cause budgetary imbalances which impacts funding for core services. This bundle contracting approach has already helped the CPC avoid between $20 million and $30 million in energy costs.

Wind power is the ideal source of energy for the CPC because it has no fuel-price risk (wind is free!) and, therefore, it has long-term cost predictability. The wind production cycle also aligns well with the CPC’s energy consumption, as there is higher production/consumption during the day and during the winter months.

The CPC ran a formal competitive process to select a wind development partner to pursue this strategy. Nine proposals were submitted, and seven companies from across North America were interviewed and evaluated against selection criteria. Through this process, we were selected as a partner to develop a project that met the CPC’s requirements. Our Bull Creek Wind Facility aligns with the expected power needs of the school boards, in both quantity of energy and timing of delivery.

This partnership also allows the CPC to demonstrate leadership in environmental stewardship and put sustainable development and operation policies into action. Wind power enables school boards to take advantage of the long-term predictable cost of wind energy limiting exposure to price volatility.

For any billing related issues, please call 1-403-668-1575 Ext. 2