Candles to Kilowatts
The history of Edmonton's power company is closely connected to the history of the city itself. In fact, it existed before Edmonton was incorporated as a town. A mutually beneficial relationship developed between Edmonton and its power company; Edmonton's growth resulted in increasing demands for electricity, and the availability of electricity allowed Edmonton to develop.
A constant throughout the century has been the utility's drive to be on the leading edge of technological innovations. The Rossdale Power Plant, the generating station that has been located in Edmonton's downtown river valley throughout the city's history, boasted one of the world's first 10,000-kW turbo-generators in 1928. In 1931, Rossdale had the largest steam boiler in Canada. By 1941, it was Canada's largest thermal plant. When Rossdale was converted to natural gas in the late 1950's, the new turbine units were the largest of their kind to be installed in Canada at the time. The Clover Bar station, built in the 1970's, was the first power generating facility in North America to have a spring-supported foundation table installed beneath the turbine generators.
This tradition of innovation and leadership continues to this day. Edmonton's power company is now the only Alberta company to be involved in every aspect of power generation, transmission, distribution, and sales. It also sells water to Edmonton and 40 surrounding communities. The utility is also expanding into British Columbia, Ontario, and Washington State, and has assets valued at over two billion dollars. That's quite a switch from a little light and power company that provided service to a seven-block stretch of downtown Edmonton after sunset and from 5:30 AM until sunrise in the winter. A century later, the sun still hasn't set on this company.
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