TransCanada moves into solar

Article Excerpt

TRANSCANADA CORP. $43.95 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 704.0 million; Market cap: $30.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.transcanada.com) is buying nine solarpower projects in Ontario from Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq symbol CSIQ). TransCanada will pay $470 million for these projects. Canadian Solar is building the facilities using its own photovoltaic panels. It expects to finish construction between late 2012 and mid-2013. TransCanada will buy each facility as it starts operating. In all, these projects will generate 86 megawatts of electricity. To put that in context, TransCanada currently owns or invests in North American power plants that generate a combined 10,800 megawatts. All nine projects have 20-year contracts to sell their electricity to Ontario’s power regulator. The Ontario government may cut the rates it pays to solar-power producers as it looks to lower its budget deficit. However, solar power represents such a small part of TransCanada’s operations that any cut would have little impact on the company. TransCanada is still a..