CALGARY – TransAlta Corp. (TSX:TA) reported Tuesday a second-quarter loss of $797 million, hit by weakness in its energy trading business, maintenance costs and charges related to a shut down at its Sundance generating station
The power utility said the loss amounted to $3.51 per share compared with a profit of $12 million or a nickel per share in the second quarter of 2011.
Revenue totalled $407 million, down from $515 million.
TransAlta reported a comparable loss for the second quarter of $22 million or 10 cents per share compared with a profit of $65 million or 29 cents per share a year ago.
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“Having solid base operations allows us to drive our strategy forward,” TransAlta president and chief executive Dawn Farrell said in a statement.
“We continue to look beyond any one quarter and focus on the long-term potential of this company.”
Earlier this month, TransAlta signed an 11-year agreement to provide electricity from its Centralia coal plant in Washington State to Puget Sound Energy.
Centralia’s Unit 1 is scheduled to be shut down at the end of 2020, with Unit 2 following at the end of 2025. Both units produce 670 megawatts.
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TransAlta was ordered earlier this month to rebuild units at its Sundance coal-fired power plant in Alberta that were at the centre of dispute with TransCanada Corp.
Last year, TransAlta said the units at the Calgary facility could not be repaired economically and must be shut down permanently.
The move irked TransCanada (TSX:TRP), because it ended a power purchase agreement about six years before it was supposed to wrap up.
The pipeline and utility giant argued TransAlta failed to adequately prove that the units could not be repaired economically.
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