Calgary Power · 1979
A still mountain lake reflecting conifer forest and sunlit peaks under a blue sky.
Power, Rail, Marine, Air
Calgary Power
1 picture · 1979
- Founded
- 1909 (Calgary Power Company, Limited; Horseshoe plant in service 1911)
- Head office then
- Calgary, Alberta (head office moved from Montreal to Calgary in the 1940s)
Calgary Power generated electricity in Alberta. Max Aitken formed the company in 1909 and opened the Horseshoe hydro plant on the Bow River, west of Calgary, on 21 May 1911. Kananaskis Falls followed in 1913, then Ghost, Cascade, Barrier, Brazeau, and Bighorn. When the hydro sites were used up it added coal plants, including Sundance on Lake Wabamun in the early 1970s.
It was Alberta's main investor-owned utility. By the end of the 1970s it generated about 70 percent of the province's electricity and had tied rural electrification associations into the grid.
Why it mattered
It was Alberta's main investor-owned utility. TransAlta's own history says that by the end of the 1970s Calgary Power generated 70 percent of Alberta's electricity, and that Farm Electric Service tied rural associations into the grid after 1948.
Now
In 1981 the company took the name TransAlta Utilities Corporation. It still operates from Calgary as TransAlta Corporation, now with gas and wind as well as the remaining converted coal sites.
Still open
- Encyclopedia.com gives a 1903 founding for a forerunner; TransAlta and Alberta Energy Heritage date Calgary Power to 1909. The 1909 date is used here.
- Exact street address on the 1970 report was not in _existing.json.
Sources
The pictures
- Calgary Power 1979 — annual reportarchive.org/details/McGillLibrary-631068-28775
References
- TransAlta: Our history1909-1911 Horseshoe; later plants; 1981 TransAlta name; 1970s 70 percent of Alberta generation
- Alberta Energy Heritage: Horseshoe Dam Hydroelectric PlantAitken purchase 1909; Horseshoe 21 May 1911; 1981 TransAlta name
- Encyclopedia.com: TransAlta Utilities CorporationAitken, Bennett, Holt, Cross; Horseshoe and Kananaskis
- McGill Canadian Corporate Reports: Calgary Power Ltd.holdings include 1970 annual report