Transalta Corp. (NYSE: TAC) reported Q4 FFO of Cdn$0.59, versus Cdn$0.67 reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at Cdn$544 million, versus Cdn$609 million reported last year.

2021 Outlook:

The Company announced its 2021 outlook with comparable EBITDA estimated to be between $960 to $1,080 million. The midpoint of the range represents a 10 per cent increase over 2020 results. The Company expects comparable EBITDA to increase due to a number of factors.

• We expect power to be offered, dispatched and optimized in a more commercial manner in Alberta with power prices more in line with longer-term historical averages with the expiry of the remaining Alberta power purchase arrangements (the "Alberta PPAs") at certain thermal facilities and transfer of dispatch control away from the Balancing Pool and to the asset owners. Power prices are also expected to be influenced by higher carbon compliance costs and expected demand recovery relative to the economy-wide closures from COVID-19 during most of 2020.
• Expiry of the Alberta PPAs at our Hydro facilities will step-up comparable EBITDA driven by the removal of previous PPA obligation payments (net of capacity payments).
• Full year contribution of the Skookumchuck wind facility and Ada cogeneration facility.
• Windrise reaches commercial operations during the second half of 2021.

The Company expects sustaining capital to be in the elevated range of $175 million to $210 million, an increase to 2020 levels. This is driven by a considerable number of planned outages in 2021, namely the three outages in the Alberta Thermal fleet ($65 million to $75 million) to undertake the conversions to gas and other turnaround maintenance. The Company presently has Sheerness 1 on outage (carried out by our partner), and Keephills 2 outage is scheduled for an outage in mid-March, and the Keephills 3 outage is planned for mid-September. Both Keephills 2 and Keephills 3 outages are each estimated to take approximately 56 days.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Transalta Corp. (TAC) click here.