What it does: Today, we are Canada's largest publicly-traded generator and marketer of electricity, one of Canada’s largest producers of wind power, and Alberta’s largest producer of hydroelectric power.
Mission: Provide safe, low-cost, and reliable clean electricity.
Size and presence: With approximately $3 billion in annual revenue, and more than $9 billion in assets and operations in three countries, we have proven our worth as an electricity producer, as a community member, and as a solid investment.
Best known for Developing and embracing innovative solutions to challenges.
The good bits: Great people to work with who care about your development.
The not-so-good bits: Company does not provide training for jobs, will hire you for a job, but no training to use their systems or how things are done.
Since 1911, we have supplied the electrical power needed to make progress and innovation possible in Alberta – and beyond.
In the beginning, our growth was tied to the evolution of a province steeped in prairie optimism and rich natural resources. More recently, we’ve powered industry, commerce, and community well-being across Canada, the U.S., and Australia.
Where we operate, we are committed to supplying reliable electric power to customers at an affordable cost; investing in the local community, and doing business in a manner that ensures our employees are safe and proud.
When the province of Alberta was four years old, we began our journey with the planning and construction of the Horseshoe Falls Hydro Plant. Two years later, with the help of 200 workers, we flipped the switch and Calgary Power Company Ltd. was born. Our second dam was commissioned in 1913 at Kananaskis Falls and built by almost 500 workers.
At the time, streetcars were responsible for a significant share of Calgary’s electrical load. Residential power was just being introduced and many homes were lit for the first time with electrical lamps because of Calgary Power.
Electricity was being put to new uses – from powering street lamps to motion pictures – all while contributing to the exploration and early economic success of Alberta.
Electricity transformed daily life at home, on the farm, and at work with the introduction of water pumps, refrigerators, milking machines, and stoves.
Important Milestones:
Important Milestones:
With the onset of the Second World War, many employees enlisted to serve their country.
In 1941, we began assigning employee numbers and Jal Abelseth of the Seebe plant was honored with being employee 00001.
The company purchased the Cascade hydro plant from the federal government in 1914, dismantling the original and building a new Cascade plant, resulting in Lake Minnewanka’s water storage allowing for well-managed water flows throughout the year.
Rural electrification was a focus for the company in the 1940s and into the 1950s. When Calgary Power trucks would arrive, workers were welcomed with food and refreshments and farmers were quick to lend a hand.
By 1950, we had more than 400 staff members and offices across Alberta, including Edmonton, Camrose, Wetaskiwin, Calgary, and Lethbridge. In addition, the company served 6,000 new customers and 24 additional towns and villages.
The decade also saw remote control arrive at our hydro plants, and in 1951, the Seebe Control Centre was built to centrally manage many of our dams. Three years later, a northern control center was built near Edmonton.
By the late 1950s, there were few undeveloped hydro sites in Alberta but power demand continued to grow. This led to the company’s first thermal generating plant, at Wabamun, west of Edmonton, Alberta, beginning operation in 1956. The site was adjacent to coal reserves of more than 50 million tons.
By 1958, we operated in almost every corner of the province serving even remote rural areas.
961 marked our first 50 years of operation and Calgary Power reached an agreement with the Alberta government to jointly construct a multi-use dam on the Brazeau River, including a storage dam that was constructed on the North Saskatchewan River. The first turbine was commissioned in 1965.
By 1967, a second unit at Brazeau was supplying power. Meanwhile, construction started on the company’s second thermal generating plant, Sundance. In 1968, the fourth unit at Wabamun was completed, the third having been completed six years earlier.
By the early ’70s, society was becoming environmentally conscious. We responded by retrofitting boilers with electrostatic precipitators which removed 99.5 percent of fly ash from emissions. While interest rates rose, we continued to expand to keep up with the needs of a growing province.
In 1970, Calgary Power commissioned the first coal-fired unit at the Sundance Generating Plant, with 286 megawatts of capacity. In 1972, the construction of the Bighorn Dam on the North Saskatchewan River was completed. Its reservoir was named Lake Abraham, after a long-time Aboriginal resident of the area, Silas Abraham.
Meanwhile, land reclamation at the company’s Whitewood Mine, near our Wabamun Plant, was well underway and setting a pattern for ongoing reclamation activities that continue to this day.
In 1974, Calgary Power acquired Lethbridge’s generating plant and the company’s Sundance plant expanded, with Units Four and Five coming online in 1977 and 1978.
In 1981, we officially changed our name and became TransAlta, the new name better reflecting our now province-wide operations, having expanded to supply 81 percent of Alberta’s electrical requirements by the end of the decade.
Early in the decade we also commissioned Sundance Unit Six. It came online in 1980 and incorporated the latest advances in generation technology.
The Keephills Plant was commissioned in 1983 and came into service in 1984.
In the ’90s, TransAlta worked with the government to define the open, competitive, and deregulated electricity market that would come about in the new millennium.
Through the 1990s, we learned a great deal about competing internationally and in newly deregulated markets by operating hydroelectric facilities in Argentina, as well as power plants in Australia and New Zealand.
We were also the first Alberta utility to introduce an incentive program for energy efficiency. Industrial motors used up to 80 percent of the power consumed by businesses. Rebates of $400 were offered when more efficient electric motors were installed.
In 1996, TransAlta won one of the first environmental awards issued by the Climate Change Voluntary Challenge Program and we published our first sustainability report in 1998. We’ve maintained a tradition of sustainable development ever since, along with an honest and open Sustainability Reporting.
In 1999, we successfully bid on our first U.S. asset, a coal-fired plant in Centralia, Washington, transforming it into one of the cleanest coal-fired generation facilities in North America.
With deregulation now in effect, TransAlta became the first Canadian electrical generation company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has since grown to become the largest investor-owned generator of renewable energy in Canada.
With deregulation, we also divested ourselves of our Alberta-based retail and distribution businesses, choosing instead to focus solely on power generation.
Other new markets opened, including Mexico, where we built and operated two gas-fired power plants before selling them in 2008.
To end the decade, TransAlta completed the acquisition of Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., adding 21 renewable energy plants to our portfolio in the process. It also played a vital leadership role in advancing Project Pioneer – one of the largest integrated carbon capture and storage projects in the world.
Since 2009, TransAlta has focused on increasing investment in a diversified generation fleet of low-cost power assets that serve customers in the various cities, regions, and countries we operate. Today, we are one of Canada’s largest wind operators, and Alberta’s largest hydro operator and have diversified our generation mix to include sources such as solar.
We pride ourselves on our high-performance culture. Recognizing exceptional employee ideas and efforts is a valued tradition. Our annual Presidents Awards program has been a long-standing vehicle for promoting the outstanding achievements and hard work of our employees.
Recognition for your hard work starts with competitive base pay. Our employee benefits program has been designed to recognize your unique contribution to our company's success and it allows those who perform above and beyond to earn even greater compensation through our incentive programs and recognition pay for special contributions. We also support your needs outside of the office with flexible benefits plans, competitive vacation and flex time plans, and time off for volunteer activities.
Our employees' development is important to TransAlta; we invest in development programs and personalized plans to enable your potential. We offer a working environment where employees trust and respect each other, and feel empowered to achieve their goals. Strategic thinking, leadership, a drive for results, professional excellence, continuous development, and accelerating the organization are the qualities we encourage and develop in our employees.
TransAlta owns, operates, and develops a diverse fleet of electrical generation assets in Canada, the United States, and Australia, providing municipalities, industries, and businesses with safe, low-cost, and reliable clean electricity.
For over 100 years, TransAlta has been a responsible operator and proud community member where its employees work and live. We are committed to fostering a dynamic, productive, and safe work environment. Our employees contribute to a diverse, open, and transparent culture with clear accountabilities, strong leadership, and challenging opportunities for personal career growth.
⛔ Bonus annual leave
✅ Bonus parental leave
✅ Unpaid extended leave
✅ Permanent employee
✅ Signing bonus
✅ Annual bonus
⛔ Stock options
⛔ Full remote work
✅ Partial remote work
✅ Flexible working hours
⛔ Child care
✅ Free gym
⛔ Pet-friendly office
✅ Mental health days
✅ Hospital
✅ Outpatient
✅ Dental
✅ Maternity
⛔ Free breakfast
⛔ Free lunch
✅ Free tea & coffee
✅ Free snacks
⛔Free dinner
ESG is more than simply a business strategy at TransAlta; it is a competitive advantage. Sustainability is one of our core values; therefore, we strive to integrate climate change into governance, decision-making, risk management, and our day-to-day business operations. The outcome of our climate change focus is continuous improvement on key climate-related issues and ensuring our economic value creation is balanced with a value proposition for the environment and people.
We recognize the impact of climate change on society and our business both today and into the future. Our renewable energy commitment began more than one hundred years ago when we built the first hydro assets in Alberta, which still operate today. In 2002, we acquired our first wind farm, in 2015, our first solar farm, and in 2020, our first battery storage facility. Today, we operate over 80 renewable facilities across Canada, the US, and Australia.
Our climate-change-related reporting is guided by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This framework helps inform discussion and provide context on how climate change affects our business.
The following three examples demonstrate how we have transitioned our business to manage climate change risk and opportunity, how we have demonstrated leadership through action on climate change-related issues, and how we are positioned for climate resiliency.
Largest wind producer in Canada: Today, we are proud to be one of the largest producers of wind power in Canada and the largest producer of hydropower in Alberta — we have grown our nameplate renewable energy capacity from approximately 900 MW in 2000 to over 2,800 MW in 2021.
Reducing GHG emissions: Our business demonstrates climate change resiliency by reducing GHG emissions – we have a target to reduce annual CO2e emissions by 75 percent over 2015 levels by 2026. Since 2015, we have reduced our annual emissions by 19.7 million tonnes of CO2e or 61 percent, putting us on track to achieve our 2026 target.
Decarbonization strategy: As a leader in North American renewable electricity, we are well-positioned to build renewable energy facilities and hybrid facilities to support customer decarbonization goals. Our strategy involves retiring our single coal unit by the end of 2025 and achieving a 100 percent mix of renewables and natural gas with 70 percent of EBITDA from renewables.