Alterra Power Corp. a subsidiary of

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. is a developer, owner and operator of run-of-river hydroelectric facilities, wind energy, and solar farms in North America, France and South America. While many of the firm's operational assets are located in its hom ...

, is a diversified renewable power generation company based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2011 through the merger of Magma Energy Corp. and Plutonic Power Corp. It develops, owns, acquires and operates hydroelectric, wind, solar energy and geothermal projects. On February 6, 2018, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. completed the acquisition of Alterra including all its assets.

Merger

On 7 March 2011, it was announced that Magma Energy and Plutonic Power would merge to create Alterra Power Corp. Magma Energy was renamed Alterra Power and each shareholder of Plutonic Power received 2.38 shares of Magma for each Plutonic share held. At the time, the merged company owned two geothermal power plants in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, and one in Nevada (since sold), one

run of river Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop grou ...

hydro plant and one wind farm in British Columbia and an option on a solar project in Ontario.

Power plants

Projects

Toba Montrose Hydro

East Toba River (123MW) and Montrose Creek (73MW) are two run-of-river hydroelectric plants 18 km apart, they have operated since in 2010 with a combined capacity of 196 MW and generate an average of 720 GWh of electricity annually, which is contracted to B.C. Hydro until 2045.

Upper Toba Valley

The Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric project originally planned two renewable power facilities constructed 90 km north of Powell River, BC at the headwaters of

Toba Inlet Toba Inlet is one of the lesser, but still principal, inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is fourth in the series north from the 49th parallel which begins with Burrard Inlet, which is the harbour for the city of Vancouver. Between it and J ...

the first is on Jimmie Creek which flows west into Toba River and the second on the Upper Toba River. Installed capacity of the two facilities was to be 124 MW with an expected annual energy generation of 316 GW hr/yr. Alterra received an Energy Purchase Agreement from BC Hydro to construct the Upper Toba facility. In 2013 Alterra also received an Energy Purchase Agreement from BC Hydro to construct the 62MW Jimmie Creek facility. In 2016 Alterra Power Corp. announced that the Jimmie Creek facility had achieved its full output of 62 MW. It is located at

Solar power expansions

In early 2011, Plutonic Power agreed, together with GE Energy financial Services, to purchase three proposed

photovoltaic power plant A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

s in Ontario from

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is a publicly traded American manufacturer of solar panels, and provider of utility-scale PV power plants, supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses ...

. The three plants will have a total capacity of 50 MW, divided between Amherstburg (10MW), Belmont (20MW) and Walpole (20MW). This represents a first venture into

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

for Plutonic Power although engineering, procurement, construction and operation will still be provided by First Solar.

HS Orka's controversy

In 2010, during the

Icelandic financial crisis Icelandic refers to anything of, from, or related to Iceland and may refer to: *Icelandic people *Icelandic language *Icelandic orthography *Icelandic cuisine See also * Icelander (disambiguation) * Icelandic Airlines, a predecessor of Icelandai ...

, Magma Energy acquired 98.5% of shares in the Icelandic geothermal power company

HS Orka HS Orka is a privately-owned Icelandic energy company that produces electricity and hot water mainly from geothermal sources, mainly on the Reykjanes Peninsula. It is the third largest electricity producer in Iceland, after Landsvirkjun and Orka N ...

. The deal created an opposition in

. On May 21, 2010 Icelandic singer

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

wrote an open letter in the newspaper

Reykjavík Grapevine Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. Rey ...

, calling on the Icelandic government to "do everything in its power to revoke the contracts with Magma Energy". The deal was approved by the Icelandic Government. In 2016, Alterra owned 67%, while the Icelandic pension funds held 33%. In 2019 Alterra sold off its shares in HS Orka to

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Macquarie Group Limited (), more commonly known as Macquarie Bank, is an Australian Multinational corporation, multinational investment banking and financial services group headquartered in Sydney and listed on the Australian Securities Exchang ...

(MIRA).

References

External links

* {{Vancouver Corporations Renewable energy companies of Canada Geothermal energy in Canada Hydroelectric power companies of Canada Companies based in Vancouver Canadian companies established in 2011 Energy companies established in 2011 Renewable resource companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in British Columbia Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange 2011 mergers and acquisitions