Photo: Capital Power’s 122-MW Halkirk 2 wind facility located in Paintearth County officially began commercial operation on Dec. 15, 2025. Rural Alberta Report/Submitted

The roster of renewable energy projects in Alberta has another name added to the list as Capital Power announced one of its developments was officially open.

The Halkirk 2 project is officially open for business, noted Michael Sheehan, senior specialist Indigenous and stakeholder engagement for Capital Power.

“Today, the 122-megawatt (MW) Halkirk 2 wind facility began commercial operation,” stated an email from Sheehan dated Dec. 15.

“This milestone means Halkirk 2 is officially generating and producing electricity to Alberta’s grid.

“Since Nov. 24, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Vestas’ personnel have been busy completing commissioning of the 27 Vestas V150-4.5 wind turbines and other testing required for Halkirk 2 to begin commercial operation.”

The Halkirk 2 facility ran into some trouble about a year ago when blades and a nacelle fell to the ground after construction. A recent engineer’s report revealed the equipment fell most likely because the impact wrenches used to tighten them weren’t calibrated properly.

“On Nov. 8, 2024, the nacelle and rotor detached and fell from a wind turbine (T-33),” stated Sheehan in a follow-up email. “As a result, construction was suspended, and two independent root cause analyses were completed.

“Both investigations concluded that the T-33 incident resulted from the use of out-of-tolerance tooling to tension the tower-to-nacelle structural bolts. 

“Following the incident, inspections of all tower-to-nacelle bolts and torque checks were completed. All structural connections have been checked, and further torque checks will be conducted throughout operations.”

Sheehan confirmed the Vesta 150’s now in use in Halkirk 2 are a bit bigger than those originally proposed. “Yes, the Vestas V-150 4.5 wind turbines installed at the facility are larger, resulting in fewer overall wind turbines than the Vestas V110 wind turbines originally approved in 2018,” stated Sheehan’s email.

Halkirk 2 is located near the Hamlet of Halkirk in Paintearth County, about 40 kms east of the Town of Stettler.