The Peace River and District Chamber of Commerce received a visit from Calgary-based power company Kineticor yesterday.
Andrew Plaunt, the President and CEO at Kineticor, provided an update on how things currently stand with the former Carmon Creek project.
The company purchased the half-built power plant portion from Shell earlier this year.
“The power plant itself is a standalone asset that will be well served in the area,” said Plaunt. “The new name of the project is Three Creeks Power, and we’re hoping within the next couple of years to start construction.”
Andrew Plaunt, President & CEO of Kineticor. (Photo/Kineticor)
Plaunt says the timing will ultimately depend on what happens with the market place, as well as with the Alberta government’s stand on the power market.
One construction begins; he says it’ll employ multiple employees at the site.
“Our current estimate for construction is somewhere between 350 to 500 people,” he said. “One the plant is complete; we expect to see about 20 to 40 operators, depending on the configuration.”
He adds that he’s looking to have the company very well invested within the town.
“We’re hoping to be here for a little while,” said Plaunt. “There are some good opportunities, we’re pretty excited about what we have going on here, and we look forward to the project’s completion.”
Peace River Mayor Tom Tarpey says he’s very pleased with this latest development, adding that it’ll create local jobs within the community.
“Northern Lakes College has a program that produces Power Engineers,” said Tarpey. “When this project with Kineticor gets up and running, they’ll be looking for 20 to 25 Power Engineers to help run this facility.”
Chamber President Shelly Sorensen says they’re very excited that Kineticor reached out to them and asked for some input.
“We asked them different questions about what they’re going to build, and when,” said Sorensen. “They want to use everything local, including business, and we’re just ecstatic. We’ve all been hurting for a while from the downturn, and hopefully with this news, we’ll be bouncing back shortly.”
Last month, Shell announced that will sell the former Carmon Creek project’s oil-producing assets to Canadian Natural Resources Limited.
– Posted by BET
