TransAlta Corp (TAC) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Livia, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to TransAlta Corporation 3rd quarter 2025 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press 11 on your top one keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press 11 again.

早安.我叫莉維婭，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。此時此刻，我謹代表 TransAlta 公司歡迎各位參加 2025 年第三季業績電話會議。所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。演講結束後，將進行問答環節。在此期間，如果您想提問，只需按下頂部鍵盤上的 11 即可。如果您想撤回您的問題，請再按 11。

Thank you, Miss Ferris. You may begin your conference.

謝謝你，費里斯小姐。您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, Livia. Good morning, everyone. My name is Stephanie Perris, and I am the Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy of TransAlta. Welcome to TransAlta's 3rd quarter 2025 conference call. With me today are John Cousinnoris, President and Chief Executive Officer, Joel Hunter, EVP Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Blaine Van Mell, EVP Commercial and Customer Relations, and Nancy Brennan, EVP Legal and External Affairs.

謝謝你，莉維婭。各位早安。我叫史蒂芬妮‧佩里斯，我是TransAlta公司的投資人關係和企業策略副總裁。歡迎參加 TransAlta 2025 年第三季電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有總裁兼首席執行官約翰·庫西諾里斯、財務執行副總裁兼首席財務官喬爾·亨特、商業和客戶關係執行副總裁布萊恩·範·梅爾以及法律和對外事務執行副總裁南希·布倫南。

Today's call is being webcast, and I invite those listening on the phone lines to view the supporting slides that are posted on our website. A replay of the call will be available later today, and the transcript will be posted to our website shortly thereafter.

今天的電話會議將進行網路直播，我邀請透過電話線收聽的各位觀看我們網站上發布的輔助幻燈片。本次通話的錄音將於今日稍後提供，通話記錄也將隨後發佈在我們的網站上。

All the information provided during this conference call is subject to the forward-looking information statement qualifications set out here on slide 2, detailed further in our MD&A and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call.

本次電話會議中提供的所有資訊均受此處第 2 頁幻燈片中列出的前瞻性資訊聲明限制的約束，這些限制在我們的管理層討論與分析中進一步詳細說明，並已完整納入今天的電話會議。

All amounts referenced are in CAD unless otherwise noted.

除非另有說明，所有金額均以加幣 (CAD) 為單位。

The non-IFRS terminology used, including adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, are reconciled in the MD&A for your reference. On today's call, John and Joel will provide an overview of TransAlta's quarterly results. After these remarks, we will open the call for questions. With that, I will turn the call over to John.

管理層討論與分析中對所使用的非國際財務報告準則術語（包括調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流量）進行了調整，供您參考。在今天的電話會議上，John 和 Joel 將概述 TransAlta 的季度業績。發言結束後，我們將開放提問環節。接下來，我會把電話交給約翰。

Thank you, Stephanie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our 3rd quarter conference call for 2025. As part of our commitment towards reconciliation, I want to begin by acknowledging that our company operates on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples across Canada, Australia, and the United States. We recognize the rich and diverse histories, cultures, and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Aboriginal, and Native American communities, and it is with gratitude and respect that we thank the peoples who have lived on these lands for reminding us of the ongoing histories that precede us.

謝謝你，斯蒂芬妮。各位早安，感謝各位參加我們2025年第三季電話會議。作為我們致力於和解的一部分，我想首先承認，我們公司在加拿大、澳洲和美國原住民的傳統領土上開展業務。我們認識到原住民、因紐特人、梅蒂人、土著和美洲原住民社區豐富多彩的歷史、文化和貢獻，我們懷著感激和敬意感謝生活在這片土地上的人民，感謝他們提醒我們，在我們之前，還有許多歷史在延續。

TransAlta delivered solid performance during the 3rd quarter, demonstrating our fleet's resilience during challenging market conditions. Our Alberta portfolio hedging strategy and active asset optimization continued to generate realized prices well above spot prices, while availability remained high across the fleet.

TransAlta 在第三季取得了穩健的業績，展現了我們的船隊在充滿挑戰的市場環境下的韌性。我們在阿爾伯塔省的投資組合對沖策略和積極的資產優化繼續產生遠高於現貨價格的實際價格，同時船隊的可用性也保持在較高水準。

During the quarter we delivered adjusted EBITDA of $238 million, free cash flow of $105 million or $0.35 per share, and average fleet availability of 92.7%. Based on our results to date and expectations for the 4th quarter, we remain confident in achieving our 2025 guidance range. We're tracking to the lower end of the adjusted EBITDA range and the midpoint of free cash flow, which Joel will speak to later in the call.

本季度，我們實現了調整後 EBITDA 2.38 億美元，自由現金流 1.05 億美元（即每股 0.35 美元），平均車隊可用性為 92.7%。根據我們迄今為止的業績和對第四季度的預期，我們仍然有信心實現我們 2025 年的業績指引。我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將達到預期範圍的下限，自由現金流將達到預期範圍的中點，Joel 稍後將在電話會議中談到這一點。

As you all know, a key priority for our company is to progress our legacy thermal opportunities, which we continue to do during the quarter. In Alberta, our data center project will contribute to powering a new industry in the province, and in Washington, our Centralia project will support reliability for decades to come.

如大家所知，我們公司的一項關鍵優先事項是推進我們傳統的熱能業務，我們將在本季繼續推進這項工作。在阿爾伯塔省，我們的資料中心專案將為該省的新興產業提供動力；在華盛頓州，我們的森特勒利亞計畫將為未來幾十年提供可靠性保障。

Commercial negotiations for both projects continued to progress during the quarter, and while we remain confident in our advancement of these key priorities, we've decided to shift the timing of our investor day to the 1st quarter of 2026 following Data Center and Centralia announcements. We will provide you with detailed updates on both projects and their impact on our company, as well as the opportunities we see across all of our core markets at that time.

本季度，兩個專案的商業談判繼續取得進展，雖然我們對推進這些關鍵優先事項仍然充滿信心，但鑑於資料中心和 Centralia 專案的公告，我們決定將投資者日的時間推遲到 2026 年第一季。屆時，我們將向您提供這兩個項目及其對我們公司的影響的詳細最新進展，以及我們當時在所有核心市場看到的機會。

Returning to the quarter, we executed agreements to extend our committed credit facilities totaling $2.1 billion with our syndicate of lenders. Our syndicated facility of $1.9 billion now has a maturity of June 30, 2029, and our bilateral credit facilities of $240 million were extended by one year to June 30, 2027.

回到本季度，我們與銀團簽署協議，延長了總額為 21 億美元的已承諾信貸額度。我們19億美元的銀團貸款將於2029年6月30日到期，而我們2.4億美元的雙邊信貸額度已延長一年至2027年6月30日。

During the quarter, we completed the sale of a 100% interest in the 48 megawatt Poplar Hill facility as required under the terms of the Heartland Generation Acquisition. And following the quarter on October 2nd, we also closed the sale of a 50% interest in the 97 megawatt Rainbow Lake facility. The proceeds from the divestitures go to Energy Capital Partners as agreed to under the terms of the transaction.

本季度，我們按照 Heartland Generation 收購條款的要求，完成了對 48 兆瓦 Poplar Hill 設施 100% 權益的出售。繼 10 月 2 日季度末之後，我們也完成了裝置容量為 97 兆瓦的 Rainbow Lake 發電廠 50% 股權的出售。根據交易條款，出售所得將歸 Energy Capital Partners 所有。

This marks the successful conclusion of the remaining regulatory requirements for the Heartland acquisition.

這標誌著 Heartland 收購案剩餘的監管要求已順利完成。

In August, the AESO announced its final design for the restructured Energy Market, or REM, which I will speak to momentarily. The government of Alberta also introduced proposed amendments to the TIER regulations. The proposed changes include recognition of on-site emissions reduction investments as a compliance pathway under the TIER system.

8 月，AESO 宣布了重組能源市場（REM）的最終設計方案，我稍後會談到這一點。阿爾伯塔省政府也提出了 TIER 法規的修訂提案。建議的變更包括承認現場減排投資是 TIER 體系下的合規途徑。

This may impact the emission credit market. However, as most of our credits are deployed internally towards our gas fleet's emissions obligations, we do not anticipate this change, if implemented, to be material to our business. And finally, we continue to engage directly and collaboratively with the government of Alberta and the AESO on the Alberta Data Center strategy and their approach to large load integration.

這可能會對碳排放信用市場產生影響。然而，由於我們的大部分積分都用於內部履行我們燃氣車隊的排放義務，因此我們預計，即使實施這項變化，也不會對我們的業務產生重大影響。最後，我們將繼續與艾伯塔省政府和艾伯塔省電力系統營運商 (AESO) 就艾伯塔省資料中心戰略及其大型負載整合方法進行直接和協作。

Turning more specifically to the work that we're doing in realizing the value of our legacy generation sites, at our Centralia site, we're actively engaged in commercial negotiations with our customer and expect to be in a position to execute a definitive agreement before year end. At that time, we will be able to share our detailed development plans for the site.

更具體地說，關於我們在實現傳統發電廠價值方面所做的工作，在我們的森特勒利亞發電廠，我們正在積極與客戶進行商業談判，並預計在年底前能夠簽署最終協議。屆時，我們將能夠分享我們針對該地點的詳細開發計劃。

We also continue to progress our Alberta data center strategy and the associated commercial negotiations.

我們也在繼續推進我們在阿爾伯塔省的資料中心策略以及相關的商業談判。

Recently we entered into a demand transmission service contract with the AESO for 230 megawatts, representing the full allocation awarded to the company through phase 1 of the AESO's data center large load integration program.

最近，我們與 AESO 簽訂了一份需求輸電服務合同，提供 230 兆瓦的電力，這代表了 AESO 數據中心大負載整合計劃第一階段授予公司的全部配額。

In September, Parkland County unanimously approved the rezoning of over 3,000 acres of TransAlta-owned land surrounding our Keephills and Sundance facilities to support future data center development.

9 月，帕克蘭縣一致批准將 TransAlta 公司擁有的位於 Keephills 和 Sundance 設施周圍的 3000 多英畝土地重新劃分為資料中心用地，以支援未來的資料中心發展。

We're grateful for this community's support, which represents an important milestone to advance the opportunity for new investment, job creation, and economic growth in the region.

我們感謝社區的支持，這代表著該地區在促進新投資、創造就業機會和經濟成長方面邁出了重要一步。

We continue to work closely with our counterparties on their data center project and are steadily progressing towards the finalization of a memorandum of understanding.

我們繼續與合作夥伴密切合作，推進其資料中心項目，並穩步推進諒解備忘錄的最終簽署。

We also continue to engage directly with the provincial government and the AESO on phase 2 of the large load integration program. We're excited about the data center opportunity in Alberta and the meaningful investment it can bring to the province.

我們也將繼續與省政府和AES​​O就大型負載整合計畫第二階段進行直接溝通。我們對阿爾伯塔省的資料中心發展機會以及它能為該省帶來的重大投資感到非常興奮。

In August, the AESO announced its final design for the Alberta Restructured Energy Market, or REM. The structure is consistent with our expectations, adds greater certainty to the market, and supports system reliability, something our diverse and dispatchable generating fleet in Alberta is well suited to provide.

8 月，AESO 宣布了其對阿爾伯塔重組能源市場（REM）的最終設計方案。該結構符合我們的預期，為市場增加了更大的確定性，並支持系統可靠性，而我們在阿爾伯塔省多樣化且可調度的發電廠群非常適合提供這種可靠性。

Notably, the REM will help ensure appropriate price signals are received by generators to enable reliable generation investment and ensure Alberta is competitive with other jurisdictions. The REM contemplates an increase in the provincial price cap to $1500 per megawatt hour and eventually to $2000 per megawatt hour, with additional administrative scarcity pricing during periods of tight system conditions.

值得注意的是，REM 將有助於確保發電企業收到適當的價格訊號，從而實現可靠的發電投資，並確保阿爾伯塔省與其他地區保持競爭力。REM 考慮將省級價格上限提高到每兆瓦時 1500 美元，最終提高到每兆瓦時 2000 美元，並在系統緊張時期實施額外的行政稀缺定價。

The REM also creates a new ramping product to enhance system reliability, which our dispatchable fleet is well positioned to serve, and mitigates against any adverse impact from the adoption of locational marginal pricing for incumbent generators through the allocation of financial transmission rights.

REM 還創建了一種新的爬坡產品，以提高系統可靠性，我們的可調度車隊完全有能力滿足這一需求，並透過分配輸電權來減輕現有發電機採用位置邊際定價所帶來的任何不利影響。

The REM is expected to be implemented in 2027 or 2028, and we will continue our active engagement in the AESO consultation process, which is now focused on implementation.

REM 預計將於 2027 年或 2028 年實施，我們將繼續積極參與 AESO 的諮詢過程，該過程目前專注於實施。

We believe that the changes to the market provided by the REM, coupled with the anticipated load growth from the fully allocated 1.2 gigawatts of data center system access granted by the ISO, will see Alberta's power supply and demand imbalance improve and lead to a recovery in the merchant power price in the province, benefiting our diversified legacy fleet.

我們相信，REM 帶來的市場變化，加上 ISO 授予的 1.2 吉瓦資料中心系統接入的預期負荷增長，將改善阿爾伯塔省的電力供需不平衡狀況，並帶動該省商業電力價格回升，從而使我們多元化的傳統電力公司受益。

The forward price has begun to reflect the changing supply and demand dynamic in the province, driven by electrification, data center load, and population increases, along with the slowdown in incremental new supply coming online, which makes our existing generating fleet increasingly valuable.

遠期價格已開始反映出該省不斷變化的供需動態，其驅動因素包括電氣化、資料中心負載和人口增長，以及新增供應放緩，這使得我們現有的發電設施越來越有價值。

There appears to be a reaction today to a reference to Project Green Light's data center in-service date being pushed out to 2030.

今天似乎有人對「綠燈計畫」資料中心投入使用日期推遲到 2030 年的消息做出了反應。

Our understanding is that that is very much an outside date and that Kineticore and their customer are still driving to have the project in service in 2027 or 2028.

據我們了解，這只是一個大概的日期，Kineticore 及其客戶仍在努力爭取在 2027 年或 2028 年使該專案投入使用。

It remains our view, based on the information that we have, that forward prices do not yet fully factor in the impact of the REM or 1.2 gigawatts of data center load that will be coming online.

根據我們掌握的信息，我們仍然認為，遠期價格尚未完全反映出 REM 或即將上線的 1.2 吉瓦資料中心負載的影響。

The gradual increase in load we now expect will rebalance the current oversupply of generation in the province and drive opportunities for growth in the long term.

我們現在預計負載的逐步增加將重新平衡該省目前發電過剩的局面，並在長期內帶來成長機會。

TransAlta's dispatchable thermal and hydro fleet have existing capacity to provide reliability and serve the expected load.

TransAlta 的可調度火力發電和水電機組現有產能能夠提供可靠性並滿足預期負載。

Before I turn the call over to Joel, I'd like to offer a few words on my upcoming retirement. As we announced today, I will be retiring from TransAlta and its board effective April 30th, 2026. It has been an honor to lead TransAlta and to work with such a committed and talented team.

在把電話交給喬爾之前，我想就我即將到來的退休發表幾句看法。正如我們今天宣布的那樣，我將於 2026 年 4 月 30 日從 TransAlta 及其董事會退休。能夠領導 TransAlta 並與這樣一支敬業且才華橫溢的團隊共事，我深感榮幸。

Together with our board, we have evolved our business and built a strong foundation for the future by increasing shareholder returns, delivering strong financial results, navigating regulatory change, diversifying our business, and positioning our fleet to meet the customer needs of the future. I fully support Joel as the next President and CEO of TransAlta. He's a proven leader and the right person to advance TransAlta's strategy. I look forward to working with him, management, and the board over the coming months to ensure a successful transition. I'll now pass the call over to Joel.

我們與董事會一起，透過提高股東回報、取得強勁的財務業績、應對監管變化、實現業務多元化以及調整我們的機隊以滿足未來客戶的需求，不斷發展業務並為未來奠定了堅實的基礎。我完全支持喬爾擔任TransAlta的下一任總裁兼執行長。他是一位久經考驗的領導者，也是推進TransAlta策略的合適人選。我期待在接下來的幾個月與他、管理層和董事會合作，以確保順利過渡。現在我將把電話轉給喬爾。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to start by offering my congratulations to John on his upcoming retirement and thank him for his leadership, guidance, and strategic vision for TransAlta, as well as his active support of my leadership. I look forward to working together to ensure a smooth transition and continued execution of our strategic priorities. We will announce the CFO successor in the coming months.

謝謝你，約翰，大家早安。首先，我要祝賀約翰即將退休，並感謝他對 TransAlta 的領導、指導和策略遠見，以及他對我的領導的積極支持。我期待與大家攜手合作，確保平穩過渡並持續執行我們的策略重點。我們將在未來幾個月內宣布財務長的繼任者。

Turning now to our third quarter results, I'll start with an overview of the period where our fleet demonstrated resilience amid softer market conditions.

現在來看看我們第三季的業績，首先概述一下，在這段時期，我們的船隊在市場環境疲軟的情況下展現出了韌性。

During the quarter, we generated $238 million of adjusted EBITDA, which was $77 million lower than the 3rd quarter of 2024 due to lower Alberta and Mid-C power prices, subdued market volatility impacting energy marketing and trading results, and lower contract revenue from our Centralia facility.

本季度，我們實現了 2.38 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，比 2024 年第三季度減少了 7,700 萬美元，原因是阿爾伯塔省和中西部地區的電力價格下降，市場波動性減弱影響了能源行銷和交易業績，以及我們 Centralia 工廠的合約收入減少。

Turning to our segmented results relative to the same period of 2024, hydro segment adjusted EBITDA decreased to $73 million compared to $80 million to $89 million last year due to lower spot power prices in Alberta, as well as lower ancillary services revenue, which was impacted by lower availability from higher planned maintenance outages. Through optimization, we were able to reallocate these services to our gas fleet, maintaining our market share of the associated ancillary revenues. Environmental and tax attribute revenue to third parties was also lower than last year.

與 2024 年同期相比，我們的分部業績顯示，由於阿爾伯塔省現貨電力價格下降，以及輔助服務收入減少（受計劃內維護停電導致可用性下降的影響），水電業務調整後 EBITDA 降至 7,300 萬美元，而去年同期為 8,000 萬美元至 8,900 萬美元。透過優化，我們能夠將這些服務重新分配給我們的燃氣車隊，從而保持我們在相關輔助收入中的市場份額。向第三方支付的環境和稅收收益也低於去年。

The wind and solar segment produced adjusted EBITDA of $45 million, in line with the third quarter of 2024.

風能和太陽能業務板塊調整後 EBITDA 為 4,500 萬美元，與 2024 年第三季持平。

In the gas segment, adjusted EBITDA decreased to $110 million from $141 million in 2024, mostly due to lower realized power prices in Alberta, along with higher carbon pricing, partially offset by the addition of the Heartland assets, which increased contracted production along with incremental ancillary services revenue due to production optimization between the gas and hydro segments.

在天然氣業務方面，經調整的 EBITDA 從 2024 年的 1.41 億美元降至 1.1 億美元，主要原因是阿爾伯塔省實際電力價格下降以及碳定價上漲，部分被 Heartland 資產的加入所抵消，Heartland 資產的加入增加了合約產量，並且由於天然氣和水力發電業務之間的生產優化，增加了輔助服務收入。

The energy transition segment delivered adjusted EBITDA of $28 million, a $6 million decrease year over year due to lower market prices, partially offset by lower purchased power costs and a higher volume of favorable hedge positions settled.

能源轉型業務板塊調整後 EBITDA 為 2,800 萬美元，年減 600 萬美元，原因是市場價格走低，但部分被購電成本降低和有利對沖頭寸結算量增加所抵銷。

Energy marketing adjusted EBITDA decreased by $25 million to $17 million, primarily due to comparatively subdued market volatility across North American natural gas and power markets and lower realized settled trades in the quarter compared to last year.

能源行銷調整後 EBITDA 減少了 2,500 萬美元，至 1,700 萬美元，主要原因是北美天然氣和電力市場的市場波動相對溫和，以及本季已實現的結算交易量低於去年同期。

Corporate adjusted EBITDA was in line with last year at $35 million.

公司調整後 EBITDA 與去年持平，為 3,500 萬美元。

As a reminder, our adjusted EBITDA excludes the impact of ERP costs, as the integration is not reflective of ongoing operations or the performance of our operating assets.

需要提醒的是，我們調整後的 EBITDA 不包括 ERP 成本的影響，因為整合並不能反映持續營運或我們營運資產的績效。

Overall, free cash flow was $105 million in the third quarter, which was $26 million lower than the same period last year.

第三季總自由現金流為 1.05 億美元，比去年同期減少了 2,600 萬美元。

Lower adjusted EBITDA and higher net interest expense were partially offset by lower current income tax expense and lower distributions paid to non-controlling interests.

調整後 EBITDA 下降和淨利息支出增加被當期所得稅支出下降和向非控股股東支付的分配減少部分抵銷。

Turning to the Alberta portfolio, the third quarter spot price averaged $51 per megawatt hour, which was lower than the average price of $55 per megawatt hour in 2024. The decline year over year was primarily due to incremental generation from the addition of new gas and renewable supply in the province, as well as benign weather.

再來看阿爾伯塔省的電力組合，第三季現貨價格平均為每兆瓦時 51 美元，低於 2024 年每兆瓦時 55 美元的平均價格。年比下降的主要原因是該省新增天然氣和再生能源供應帶來的發電量增加，以及良好的天氣條件。

Throughout the quarter, we deployed hedging strategies to enhance our portfolio margins and mitigate the impact of lower merchant power prices. We realized the benefit from approximately 2,500 gigawatt hours of hedges at an average price of $66 per megawatt hour, representing a 29% premium to the average spot price.

本季度，我們採取了對沖策略，以提高投資組合利潤率，並減輕電力價格下跌的影響。我們從約 2,500 吉瓦時的對沖交易中獲益，平均價格為每兆瓦時 66 美元，比平均現貨價格溢價 29%。

In addition, our hydro fleet delivered an average realized merchant price of $76 per megawatt hour, a 49% premium to the average spot price, while the gas fleet realized an average merchant price of $79 per megawatt hour, a 55% premium to the average spot price.

此外，我們的水力發電廠平均實現售價為每兆瓦時 76 美元，比平均現貨價格高出 49%；而我們的燃氣發電廠平均實現售價為每兆瓦時 79 美元，比平均現貨價格高出 55%。

Our merchant wind fleet, which cannot be used as firm power for hedging activities, realized an average price of $28 per megawatt hour.

我們的商用風力發電船隊不能用作對沖活動的穩定電力，其平均售價為每兆瓦時 28 美元。

We were also able to deliver additional ancillary volumes across the Alberta fleet. In the quarter, our average realized price for hydro ancillary service pricing settled at $47 per megawatt hour, an 8% discount to the average spot price.

我們也能夠向阿爾伯塔車隊提供額外的輔助物資。本季度，我們的水力輔助服務定價平均實現價格為每兆瓦時 47 美元，比平均現貨價格低 8%。

Due to the optimization of ancillary services to the gas segment from hydro during planned outages, the gas segment realized an average ancillary service price of $41 per megawatt hour.

由於在計劃停電期間優化了水力發電對天然氣部門的輔助服務，天然氣部門實現了平均每兆瓦時 41 美元的輔助服務價格。

Despite relatively benign weather in the quarter which resulted in lower spot power prices, we captured additional margins by fulfilling a portion of our higher price hedges with purchased power when prices were below our variable cost of production, leading to an overall realized price per megawatt hour produced of $103 compared to $90 per megawatt hour in the same period last year.

儘管本季天氣相對溫和，導致現貨電力價格走低，但我們透過在價格低於可變生產成本時購買電力來滿足部分較高價格的對沖交易，從而獲得了額外的利潤，使得每兆瓦時的實際發電價格達到 103 美元，而去年同期為每兆瓦時 90 美元。

For the balance of the year, we have approximately 1,900 gigawatt hours of our Alberta generation hedged at an average price of $72 per megawatt hour, well above the current forward curve of $57 per megawatt hour. Going forward, we expect to continue to optimize our fleet and reduce production in low-priced, high-supply hours by fulfilling our financial hedges and customer requirements with open market purchases.

今年剩餘時間裡，我們已對約 1900 吉瓦時的阿爾伯塔發電量進行了避險，平均價格為每兆瓦時 72 美元，遠高於目前每兆瓦時 57 美元的遠期曲線。展望未來，我們預計將繼續優化我們的車隊，並透過在公開市場上採購來滿足我們的財務對沖和客戶需求，從而減少低價、高供應時段的生產。

Looking at next year, our team has increased our hedge position to approximately 7,800 gigawatt hours at an average price of $66 per megawatt hour, which remains well above current forward pricing levels.

展望明年，我們的團隊已將對沖頭寸增加到約 7,800 吉瓦時，平均價格為每兆瓦時 66 美元，這仍然遠高於目前的遠期價格水平。

Based on our year-to-date results and balance of year expectations, we remain confident in our 2025 outlook. We are currently tracking towards the lower end of our adjusted EBITDA range, largely due to the Alberta spot power price tracking to the lower end of the outlook range of $40 to $60 per megawatt hour.

根據我們今年迄今的業績和對今年剩餘時間的預期，我們對 2025 年的前景仍然充滿信心。我們目前的調整後 EBITDA 正朝著預期範圍的下限發展，這主要是由於阿爾伯塔現貨電力價格朝著預期範圍的下限（每兆瓦時 40 至 60 美元）發展。

Currently, we expect the full-year spot price to average $46 per megawatt hour.

目前，我們預計全年現貨價格平均為每兆瓦時 46 美元。

In terms of sensitivity to the Alberta spot power price, $1 per megawatt hour is expected to have a $2 million impact to our adjusted EBITDA for the balance of the year. Other factors influencing adjusted EBITDA include lower wind resource and subdued market volatility.

就對阿爾伯塔現貨電力價格的敏感度而言，預計每兆瓦時 1 美元的漲幅將對我們今年剩餘時間的調整後 EBITDA 產生 200 萬美元的影響。影響調整後 EBITDA 的其他因素包括風能資源減少和市場波動性降低。

Free cash flow is tracking to the midpoint of the outlook range, as the aforementioned adjusted EBITDA impacts are partially offset by lower expected current taxes and lower expected distributions to non-controlling interests.

自由現金流正朝著預期範圍的中點穩步前進，因為上述調整後的 EBITDA 影響部分被預期當期稅收減少和預期向非控股權益分配減少所抵消。

Consistent with the past year, we'll provide a fulsome 2026 outlook update on our fourth quarter 2025 conference call in February.

與去年一樣，我們將在2月舉行的2025年第四季電話會議上提供全面的2026年展望更新。

I will now turn the call back over to John.

現在我將把通話轉回給約翰。

Thank you, Joel. We remain focused on the following priorities for 2025. First, delivering adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow within our 2025 guidance ranges. Second, improving our leading and lagging safety performance indicators while achieving strong fleet availability.

謝謝你，喬爾。我們將繼續專注於以下2025年的優先事項。首先，實現調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流，達到我們 2025 年的預期範圍。其次，在確保車隊高可用性的同時，提高我們的領先和落後安全績效指標。

Third, maximizing the value of our legacy thermal energy campuses by capturing the opportunity presented by securing a data center customer at Alberta Thermal, as well as advancing our coal-to-gas conversion at Centralia.

第三，透過抓住在阿爾伯塔熱能公司獲得資料中心客戶的機會，最大限度地發揮我們傳統熱能園區的價值，並推進我們在森特勒利亞的煤改氣專案。

Fourth, successfully pursuing any strategic M&A opportunities that may arise. Fifth, maintaining our financial strength and flexibility. And finally, successfully implementing the upgrade to our ERP system.

第四，成功把握可能出現的任何策略併購機會。第五，保持我們的財務實力和靈活性。最後，我們成功完成了ERP系統的升級。

I believe TransAlta offers a compelling investment opportunity. We are a safe and reliable operator with strong cash flows underpinned by our diversified hydro, wind, solar, and gas portfolio located across three countries and complemented by our leading asset optimization and energy marketing capabilities.

我認為TransAlta提供了一個極具吸引力的投資機會。我們是一家安全可靠的營運商，擁有強勁的現金流，這得益於我們在三個國家擁有的多元化水力、風力、太陽能和天然氣資產組合，以及我們領先的資產優化和能源行銷能力。

There is significant and growing value in our legacy thermal sites, which our team is actively working to repurpose to meet the growing need for reliable generation in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We also remain a clean electricity leader with a focus on tangible greenhouse gas emission reductions as we remain on track to achieve our ambitious 2026 CO2 emissions reduction target.

我們現有的火力發電廠具有巨大的、不斷增長的價值，我們的團隊正在積極努力對其進行改造，以滿足我們營運所在地區對可靠發電日益增長的需求。我們仍然是清潔電力領域的領導者，專注於切實減少溫室氣體排放，並繼續朝著實現雄心勃勃的 2026 年二氧化碳減排目標穩步前進。

We remain disciplined in our approach to growth, focused on delivering value to our shareholders as we work to diversify our portfolio within our core jurisdictions and increase the stability and contractiveness of our cash flows. Our company has a sound financial foundation. Our balance sheet is flexible, and we have ample liquidity to pursue and deliver multiple growth opportunities, along with the ability to also return capital to our shareholders.

我們始終堅持穩健的成長策略，專注於為股東創造價值，同時努力在核心轄區內實現投資組合多元化，並提高現金流的穩定性和收縮性。我們公司擁有穩固的財務基礎。我們的資產負債表靈活，我們擁有充足的流動資金來追求和實現多個成長機會，同時也有能力向股東返還資本。

Finally, and most importantly, we have our people.

最後，也是最重要的一點，我們擁有我們的人民。

Our people are our greatest asset, and I want to thank all our employees and contractors for their commitment in setting the company up for success in the remainder of 2025 and beyond.

我們的員工是我們最大的資產，我要感謝所有員工和承包商為公司在 2025 年剩餘時間及以後取得成功所做的貢獻。

Thank you. I'll now turn the call over to Stephanie.

謝謝。現在我將把電話交給史蒂芬妮。

Thank you, John. Livia, would you please open the call for questions from the analysts?

謝謝你，約翰。莉維婭，請你開始接受分析師的提問？

(Operator Instructions) Robert Hope, Scotiabank.

（操作說明）羅伯特·霍普，加拿大豐業銀行。

Excellent. Okay, maybe on the data center front—so it appears that discussions are going slower than anticipated regarding customers for the data centers in Alberta. Can you maybe add a little color on what is driving this, as well as has your confidence in securing a project increased or decreased since the Q2 call?

出色的。好吧，也許在資料中心方面…看來關於艾伯塔省資料中心客戶的討論進展比預期的要慢。您能否詳細說明背後的驅動因素，以及自第二季電話會議以來，您對獲得專案的信心是增強了還是減弱了？

Robert, we remain confident in our ability to progress the data center opportunity that we have here in the province. Look, it's a big initiative both for our prospective customers and for our company. It takes time to make sure that all of the details that we need to work with—and frankly, there's multiple parties involved in bringing it forward. It just takes time to do all of that. Phase two of the ISO process and the government of Alberta process in terms of large load integration is also critically important. That's taking a little bit of time to sort out because, at least from our own perspective, it isn't just about the initial 230 megawatts that we've got. It's about how we're thinking about phasing a real data center opportunity for the province and for our company. All of this takes time, but we're tracking, and we remain confident—as we had last quarter and in other earlier times of the year—to move it forward. It is very much a key priority for our company.

羅伯特，我們仍然有信心推進我們在本省的資料中心專案。你看，這對我們的潛在客戶和我們公司來說都是一項重大舉措。我們需要時間來確保所有需要處理的細節都落實到位——坦白說，推進這項工作涉及多個方面。做這一切都需要時間。ISO流程的第二階段以及阿爾伯塔省政府在大負荷整合方面的流程也至關重要。這需要一些時間來理清，因為至少從我們自己的角度來看，這不僅僅是關於我們最初擁有的 230 兆瓦。這關係到我們如何考慮為省和我們公司分階段推進真正的資料中心專案。這一切都需要時間，但我們正在追蹤進展，我們仍然有信心——就像上個季度和今年早些時候一樣——繼續前進。這對我們公司來說至關重要。

I appreciate that. And then are you in discussions to serve other data center customers in Alberta on a shorter-term basis? You did mention Green Light. You do have confidence that it could be in service in 2027 or 2028. What gives you that confidence, and could you be supplying power to them in that time frame as well?

我很感激。那麼，你們是否正在洽談為阿爾伯塔省的其他資料中心客戶提供短期服務？你確實提到了「綠燈」這個概念。您有信心它在 2027 年或 2028 年投入使用。是什麼讓你如此有自信？你是否也能在那段時間為他們提供力量？

So, all of the discussions that we're having, all of the work that we're doing, are really around a single opportunity. And we've taken, at least from a TransAlta perspective, an exclusive approach with those prospective customers. So that's the way we're looking at it. It's also our expectation that once we're able to announce our MOU and begin moving forward, we'll be able to start seeing load come into our sites gradually, and probably a bit earlier than what Kineticore is currently anticipating. Hopefully that gives you a little bit of color.

所以，我們所有的討論，我們所做的所有工作，實際上都是圍繞著一個共同的機會。至少從 TransAlta 的角度來看，我們對這些潛在客戶採取了獨家代理商的方式。這就是我們看待這個問題的方式。我們也預計，一旦我們能夠宣布諒解備忘錄並開始推進，我們將能夠開始看到流量逐漸進入我們的站點，而且可能會比 Kineticore 目前預期的要早一些。希望這能帶給你一些色彩。

Delionel Mark Harvey, CIBC.

Delionel Mark Harvey，加拿大帝國商業銀行。

Yeah, thanks. Good morning everyone, and congrats Joel and John. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but once you do have the MOU in place, what would be the sort of timeline when you think you can get to a binding agreement? And given the fact it's taken a bit longer to get to the MOU, does that shorten the window from MOU to final agreement?

嗯，謝謝。各位早安，恭喜喬爾和約翰。我們先不要操之過急，但一旦有了諒解備忘錄，您認為大概需要多久才能達成具有約束力的協議？鑑於達成諒解備忘錄花費的時間稍長，這是否會縮短從諒解備忘錄到最終協議的時間？

Mark, good morning. Look, we would want to go pretty quickly, I would think, and we've already begun getting our team ready and internally prepared to move to definitive documentation. I can't give you a specific timeline on when that would occur, but certainly I'd be pushing our team to try to get it done as soon as possible. One of the key elements of the MOU is to have enough specificity and understanding of the arrangements between ourselves and our customers to make the definitive documentation easier to proceed. I think it will actually be quicker than it's taken to get the MOU done.

馬克，早安。我認為我們應該盡快推進，我們已經開始讓團隊做好準備，並在內部進行準備，以便最終形成正式的文件。我無法給出具體的完成時間，但我一定會督促我們的團隊盡快完成這項工作。諒解備忘錄的關鍵要素之一是對我們與客戶之間的安排進行足夠的具體說明和理解，以便更容易進行最終文件的製定。我認為實際速度會比簽署諒解備忘錄所花費的時間更快。

And then you used the word "counterparties" in the plural. Can you elaborate on what that means? Is that on the funding side for the customer? Is it through a joint venture on the data center? And the fact that it is multiple customers—how has that affected the timelines to reach the MOU?

然後你使用了複數形式的「交易對手」。能詳細解釋一下這是什麼意思嗎？這是指客戶的資金面嗎？是透過資料中心合資企業嗎？多個客戶參與其中，這對達成諒解備忘錄的時間表產生了怎樣的影響？

Yeah, we are working with more than one customer who are working together to see the opportunity come through, and that's been the case throughout our engagement. Given where we are in the process and how we're working through it, there isn't a lot more that I can give you, Mark. I wish I could, but I can't.

是的，我們正在與不只一位客戶合作，他們共同努力抓住機遇，在整個合作過程中一直如此。鑑於我們目前所處的階段以及我們正在採取的措施，我能告訴你的並不多，馬克。我很想，但我做不到。

Okay. On the last call, you indicated that you took the view that your underutilized coal-to-gas converted units are akin to incremental generation. When you think about phase two and you're trying to have those conversations with the AESO and the government, how have those progressed? Are you getting traction with that concept?

好的。上次通話中，您表示您認為您未充分利用的煤改氣裝置類似於增量發電。當您考慮第二階段並與AESO和政府進行對話時，這些對話進展如何？你的這個想法有進展嗎？

Yeah, I'm glad you asked about that. We have had discussions on phase two. Joel, Nancy, Blaine, and I have spent a fair bit of time on this as we move forward. Our company's position—which we sense is being well received by the government—is that we don't think co-location is necessary. We believe it would be better if there isn't a need to co-locate the data center with the generation going forward.

是的，很高興你問到這個問題。我們已經討論過第二階段的問題。喬爾、南希、布萊恩和我花了不少時間在這上面，以便我們可以繼續前進。我們公司的立場——我們覺得政府也對此表示贊同——是我們認為沒有必要進行託管。我們認為，未來最好不要再將資料中心與新一代產品放在一起。

We absolutely believe that underutilized generation, like our coal-to-gas units, would be akin to incremental supply and able to meet the need for data centers coming into the jurisdiction. As a bridge to new generation that would be built into the 2030s, these units are the right ones to meet that need—especially given the challenges associated with the supply chain. Getting a turbine or transformers is many years out. So we think they have a critical role to get us from where we are today to where we envision the market going.

我們堅信，像我們的煤改氣裝置這樣的未充分利用的發電設施，相當於增量供應，能夠滿足轄區內資料中心的需求。作為通往 2030 年代新一代產品的橋樑，這些產品完全能夠滿足這一需求——尤其是在供應鏈面臨挑戰的情況下。引進渦輪機或變壓器還需要很多年時間。因此，我們認為它們在幫助我們從今天的市場現狀過渡到我們設想的未來市場方向方面發揮著至關重要的作用。

So just to follow up on that, John, when you talk about potentially a bridge, are you saying some of the underutilized megawatts could be viewed as available for a couple, three to five years until new megawatts come in, or potentially as "permanent supply" in the eyes of the phase two process?

約翰，我再跟進一下，你剛才提到的過渡方案，是指一些未充分利用的兆瓦電力可以作為臨時電力使用兩到三年，直到新的兆瓦電力投入使用，還是指在第二階段進程中，這些電力可以作為「永久供應」？

Yeah, we're not necessarily thinking of it as permanent supply. For example, if we have a unit with a 20% capacity factor, there's a lot of horsepower left in that unit to run and supply incremental data center needs over a period of time. When we look at Keephills 2, Keephills 3, the Sheerness facilities, Sun 6, and our ability to potentially bring something new to the market in the fullness of time into the 2030s, we absolutely see a bridging role during phase two to get us there.

是的，我們並不一定把它視為永久性供應。例如，如果一個設備的容量係數為 20%，那麼該設備還剩下很多功率，可以在一段時間內運作並滿足資料中心不斷增長的需求。當我們審視 Keephills 2、Keehills 3、Sheerness 設施、Sun 6，以及我們未來在 2030 年代為市場帶來新事物的能力時，我們絕對看到了在第二階段發揮橋樑作用，幫助我們實現目標。

Benjamin Pham, BMO Capital Markets.

Benjamin Pham，BMO資本市場。

Hi, thanks. Good morning. I wanted to just touch base on the delay of your investor day. I can understand the reasons for it. I'm wondering—when you did set the investor day date—was your priority to get the MOUs on both of these projects? I vaguely recall it was more related to updating your long-term strategic capital allocation process. Has that changed as time has progressed?

您好，謝謝。早安.我想就您投資人日延期一事稍作溝通。我能理解其中的原因。我想知道…當你確定投資者日日期時…你的首要任務是獲得這兩個項目的諒解備忘錄嗎？我隱約記得這更多與更新你們的長期策略資本配置流程有關。隨著時間的推移，這種情況是否有所改變？

No, when we set the date, we expected that we would have had a bit more certainty or the ability to provide more clarity around both the data center strategy and some of the other initiatives we're working on, plus Centralia. It's taken us a bit more time to land those things. We could have had the investor day, but it wouldn't have been the investor day we wanted to have—one that would permit all of our investors and the investment community to understand the impact of these projects on the company and have all the building blocks necessary to fully understand the go-forward strategy. So it's really as simple as that. We picked a date we thought we could meet, we're still working through everything, and we retain our confidence level. We just want to make sure we have a good investor day—one that will be helpful to our investors.

不，我們在確定日期時，希望能夠更確定一些，或者能夠更清楚地說明資料中心策略以及我們正在進行的一些其他項目，以及 Centralia 項目。我們花了一些時間才把這些事情落實下來。我們本來可以舉辦投資者日，但這不會是我們想要的投資者日——一個能夠讓所有投資者和投資界人士了解這些項目對公司的影響，並擁有充分了解未來發展策略所需的所有要素的投資者日。事情就是這麼簡單。我們選定了一個我們認為可以見面的日期，我們仍在處理所有事情，並且我們保持信心。我們只是想確保投資者日活動順利進行，對我們的投資者有所幫助。

Okay, got it. And your comments on the connection queue and updates—those in-service dates you mentioned always tend to be conservative and they move around. Does that warrant, then, perhaps for your projects to look at some outside dates, just given that progress is a bit slower on some of the developments?

好的，明白了。您對連接隊列和更新的評論——您提到的那些上線日期總是比較保守，而且經常會有變動。那麼，鑑於某些專案的進展速度稍慢，是否有必要考慮將專案日期延後一些呢？

Yeah, no, I think we feel pretty comfortable about where we are, because what we're looking at—remember, it's going to be a grid-connected opportunity—and then we will be effectively covering the generation needs that the entity has. So we feel very comfortable about our ability from a power perspective to meet the needs of the supply that we have for our customers. I think we're in good shape there. From our perspective, the timeline is going to be driven more by the time it takes to actually build out the data centers and get that infrastructure in place. I think there's a substation we need to put in place, but that's something we're pretty comfortable with from a supply chain and timeline perspective to get done. So I can tell you that TransAlta today isn't concerned about the timing perspective from our data center opportunity.

是的，不，我認為我們對目前的狀況相當滿意，因為我們正在關注的是——記住，這將是一個併網的機會——然後我們將有效地滿足該實體的發電需求。因此，從電力供應的角度來看，我們對滿足客戶的供電需求的能力感到非常有信心。我認為我們那邊情況不錯。從我們的角度來看，時間表更取決於實際建造資料中心和落實基礎設施所需的時間。我認為我們需要建造一個變電站，但從供應鏈和時間安排的角度來看，我們有信心完成這項工作。因此我可以告訴大家，TransAlta 目前並不擔心我們資料中心專案的時機問題。

Okay, and just a step for me if I may—the 3,000 acres, I mean, I think that's a massive amount of megawatts you can theoretically add onto that acreage.

好的，如果可以的話，我想再補充一點……這3000英畝土地，我的意思是，我認為理論上你可以在這片土地上增加大量的兆瓦電力。

It is. I agree. We see it as a significant opportunity, and we're grateful for the engagement we've received from Parkland County, who also see the opportunity for the county to have a real hub for data centers just west of the city of Edmonton. All the work that we're doing, as I mentioned earlier in the call, isn't just for the 230 megawatts. It's as we envision the broader campus that we hope to develop over time.

這是。我同意。我們認為這是一個重要的機遇，我們非常感謝帕克蘭縣的積極參與，他們也看到了在埃德蒙頓市西邊建立一個真正的資料中心中心的機會。正如我之前在電話會議中提到的，我們所做的一切工作不僅僅是為了這 230 兆瓦。這是我們設想的更廣闊的校園，我們希望隨著時間的推移將其發展壯大。

Maurice Choy, RBC Capital Markets.

Maurice Choy，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

Thank you and good morning, everyone. You touched on planning with your customers for phases beyond 230 megawatts, and you also spoke about AESO phase two being critically important. If you think ahead between now and sometime in Q1 when you have your investor day, looking at it the other way—what would be the top reason that could derail your timeline to be even later?

謝謝大家，大家早安。您談到了與客戶一起規劃超過 230 兆瓦的階段，您也談到了 AESO 第二階段至關重要。如果你展望一下從現在到第一季投資者日這段時間，換個角度來看——什麼最可能導致你的時間表進一步推遲？

Yeah, look, it's difficult to speculate. All I can say is—and all we can tell our investors—is we continue to work doggedly to set up our facility and the permitting around the opportunity that we have. So we don't see issues that could arise from a TransAlta perspective from a timing perspective to get there. We're working with our customers because they, in turn, have knock-on effects they need to deal with to be able to land all of that and better understand what the future pathways are. We have confidence in phase two. We believe the government and the ISO are committed to the development of a data center industry here in the province of Alberta. It is a priority. Our team has met with very senior people in the government, and there's nothing I have heard that would suggest otherwise. So there isn't particularly a derailer that I would see in us moving through to the first half.

是啊，你看，這很難推測。我只能說——我們只能告訴我們的投資者——我們將繼續不懈努力，建立我們的工廠，並辦理與我們​​所擁有的機會相關的許可證。因此，從 TransAlta 的角度來看，從時間安排的角度來看，我們認為不會有任何問題。我們與客戶合作，因為他們反過來也會面臨連鎖反應，需要處理這些反應才能實現所有這些目標，並更了解未來的發展方向。我們對第二階段充滿信心。我們相信，政府和ISO致力於在艾伯塔省發展資料中心產業。這是當務之急。我們的團隊已經與政府高層會面，目前為止，我沒有聽到任何相反的消息。所以，我認為我們進入上半程並沒有特別的阻礙。

Maybe just a quick follow-up to that. Is there any regulation or policy—federal or provincial—that you see as absolutely necessary for clarity for this MOU and definitive agreement to go forward?

或許可以簡單補充一下。您認為是否有任何聯邦或省級法規或政策對於明確本諒解備忘錄和最終協議的實施是絕對必要的？

It would be helpful, from our perspective, to have a bit of a sense on where phase two is going to land so that we can plan around that. We think we will be able to meet within that, but it's important to get that done. The other area—and we've talked about this before—is the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER), which remain a bit of a challenge for us. We're working hard to ensure that we have maximum optionality to fit within those regulations as they currently exist, to ensure that we can meet the promise of the opportunity we see through the data center work. When our team is thinking about things, it's more the CER, to be honest, that we think about long-term as something we need to manage around. Phase two is more of a clarity point that we think will be constructive. Hopefully that gives you a sense, Maurice.

從我們的角度來看，如果能大致了解第二階段的走向，以便我們能夠據此進行規劃，將會很有幫助。我們認為我們能夠在那個範圍內達成協議，但重要的是要把這件事做好。另一個領域——我們之前也討論過——是清潔電力法規（CER），這對我們來說仍然是一個挑戰。我們正在努力確保我們擁有最大的選擇權，以適應現有的法規，從而確保我們能夠實現透過資料中心工作所看到的機會的承諾。說實話，我們團隊在思考問題時，更像是把 CER 看作是我們需要長期管理的事情。第二階段更著重於釐清問題，我們認為這將具有建設性意義。希望這能讓你有所了解，莫里斯。

It does, and maybe that's exactly where I'm going to finish off—on the federal policy side. So obviously, the Canadian federal budget came out earlier this week. It doesn't feel like we got much clarity on both the CER and the industrial carbon tax heading into 2030 or post-2030. I know that the Alberta government has frozen the carbon tax at $95 per ton, but what can you share in terms of your expectations of both how the CER and the industrial carbon tax will be through 2030 and beyond?

確實如此，也許這就是我在聯邦政策上要結束的地方。很顯然，加拿大聯邦預算案已在本週稍早公佈。感覺我們對 2030 年及以後的 CER 和工業碳稅都還沒有太多清晰的了解。我知道阿爾伯塔省政府已將碳稅凍結在每噸 95 美元，但您能否分享一下您對 2030 年及以後加拿大排放權和工業碳稅的預期？

I'd be speculating. What I can tell you is that when we do our internal modeling, we run a number of scenarios as we assess our fleet. It's everything from the carbon price staying at $95 to the carbon price continuing on its anticipated trajectory toward 2030. Our engagement on the CER with the federal government continues. Our team was in conversations relating to that—I think it was last week in Ottawa—and I'm actually in discussions on it again later today. So it's an ongoing process of discussion that we have.

我只是猜測。我可以告訴你們的是，當我們進行內部建模時，我們會運行許多場景來評估我們的機隊。從碳價維持在每噸 95 美元，到碳價繼續按照預期軌跡向 2030 年發展，一切都取決於此。我們與聯邦政府就 CER 問題進行的磋商仍在繼續。我們的團隊一直在討論與此相關的事宜——我想那是在上週在渥太華——而且我今天晚些時候還會再次討論此事。所以這是一個我們一直在進行的討論過程。

Quick follow-up then—who underwrites that risk of federal policy changes? Is that your data center customer, or would that be you, or is that still under negotiation?

那麼，接下來要快速跟進的是──誰來承擔聯邦政策改變帶來的風險？那是你們的資料中心客戶嗎？還是說那就是你們自己？還是還在協商中？

That's something we're working through with the customers. It's not something I can give specific details on. What we try to do in mapping out the opportunity is to ensure that it's robust and candidly insulated from regulatory uncertainty. That's actually what we're trying to do. In part, when you hear the company talking about being more contracted and how we're diversifying, it is driven by the goal to insulate the company from any kind of regulatory shifts or repercussions. That's the approach our team is taking with respect to the data center file. Candidly, it's a similar approach in Centralia. Blaine and his team are working on that. It's the same thing there. It's a real focus for us.

這是我們正在與客戶共同努力解決的問題。我無法提供具體細節。我們在規劃機會時，力求確保其穩健可靠，並能有效避免監管上的不確定性。這正是我們努力的目標。在某種程度上，當你聽到公司談論如何縮小規模以及如何實現多元化時，其驅動力是為了使公司免受任何監管變化或影響。這就是我們團隊對資料中心文件採取的方法。坦白說，森特勒利亞的做法也類似。布萊恩和他的團隊正在努力解決這個問題。那裡的情況也一樣。這是我們真正關注的重點。

John Multwood.

約翰·穆爾特伍德。

Hi, good morning everybody. Maybe, at the risk of going too in the weeds here, just trying to read the tea leaves a little more on these AESO in-service dates. So the Keephills load IFCs as reported by AESO are 100 megawatts by January 2027 and then another 115 mid-year. How should investors view the timelines for your projects as provided by AESO data? Are those timelines by which the load could actually be online, or more of a timeline for those to be ready to connect to the grid from an AESO perspective? Help us understand that aspect.

大家早安。也許，冒著鑽牛角尖的風險，我只是想對這些 AESO 的服役日期多做一些解讀。根據 AESO 的報告，Keehills 的負載 IFC 到 2027 年 1 月將達到 100 兆瓦，然後在年中再增加 115 兆瓦。投資人應該如何看待AESO數據提供的貴公司專案時程？這些時間表是指負荷實際上線的時間表，還是指從AESO的角度來看，負荷做好併網準備的時間表？請您幫助我們理解這方面的內容。

Yeah, I mean those dates are oriented to when we think that we would begin to connect to the grid and when the load would start ramping up. So they’re not disconnected, John, if you see what I’m saying—they’re tied. We do see a gradual feathering in of load over time. The work that we’re looking at doing—I mentioned the substation earlier—would be a complete facility to accommodate the full ramping up of the generation over time.

是的，我的意思是，這些日期是根據我們認為何時開始併入電網以及何時負載開始增加來製定的。所以他們不是斷開的，約翰，如果你明白我的意思……他們是連在一起的。我們看到負載隨著時間的推移逐漸減少。我們正在考慮的工作——我之前提到過變電站——將是一個完整的設施，以適應發電量隨時間推移而全面增加的情況。

And remember, the AESO requires the load to be in place by December 1st, 2028. So that’s what our current expectations are.

請記住，AESO 要求在 2028 年 12 月 1 日之前完成荷載安裝。這就是我們目前的預期。

Okay, and then just to clarify your comments on phase two—do you or your customer need clarity on any aspects of phase two, even if it’s just early details on “bring your own power” or allocations, in order to finalize an agreement and have line of sight on some of that potential multi-stage development you referenced in your news release? What timeline are you hoping for more clarity on the key aspects of phase two?

好的，那麼為了澄清您對第二階段的評論……您或您的客戶是否需要了解第二階段的任何方面，即使只是關於……的早期細節……或者分配……，以便最終達成協議，並了解您在新聞稿中提到的一些潛在的多階段開發？您希望在第二階段的關鍵方面獲得更清晰的時間表嗎？

On the last point, it’s pretty clear to us that the AESO and the government are aware that having certainty sooner rather than later would be positive. I can’t give you a specific date on when we would get that, but I know they’re trying to move at an appropriate pace to give us that level of clarity.

關於最後一點，我們很清楚，AESO 和政府都意識到，儘早獲得確定性是件好事。我無法給出具體的日期，但我知道他們正在努力以適當的速度推進，以便給我們這種程度的明確資訊。

I’d say the number one thing, at least from my own perspective on phase two, is getting a better understanding of what “bringing incremental power” is all about and what role our legacy facilities—where we do have capacity—can play in that context. That’s probably the number one thing from a planning perspective for us going forward. We’re working to develop optionality so we can deal with that whichever way it goes. That’s something we continue to work on, and we’ll certainly be able to provide more clarity on it at our investor day.

我認為，至少從我個人對第二階段的看法來看，最重要的事情是更好地理解「逐步增加電力」的意義，以及我們現有的設施（在我們擁有產能的地方）在這一背景下可以發揮什麼作用。從規劃的角度來看，這可能是我們未來最重要的事。我們正在努力開發多種應對方案，以便無論事態如何發展，我們都能應對。這是我們正在努力的方向，我們肯定會在投資者日上對此做出更清晰的說明。

Okay, thanks for that. And maybe just one last one on your hedging and midterm pricing. I’m wondering what kind of interest you’re seeing from C&I customers around signing mid- to long-term deals, given the potential for the power pricing environment to normalize considerably over the next few years. And from your side, how are you balancing the potential for that increased appetite with your aspirations on supplying large loads?

好的，謝謝。最後，關於對沖和中期定價，或許還有最後一個問題。鑑於未來幾年電力價格環境有可能大幅趨於正常化，我想知道您觀察到工商業客戶對簽訂中長期協議的興趣如何。那麼，從您的角度來看，您是如何平衡不斷增長的需求與您實現大批量供應的願望的呢？

Yeah, I might start and then get Blaine to chime in, because it’s his team that oversees all of that work. I’d say—and Blaine, you can correct me—but I’d say it’s been pretty steady. The C&I demand that we have—and I think we’re actually the largest C&I player now in the province of Alberta—the book that we have from a renewal perspective and incremental business continues as business as usual. We continue to see our customers roll over. I think the average tenor, Blaine, is roughly in that three-year range.

是的，我可能會先開始，然後讓布萊恩插話，因為所有這些工作都是由他的團隊負責的。我想說…布萊恩，你可以糾正我…但我想說它一直都很穩定。工商業需求讓我們……而且我認為我們實際上是阿爾伯塔省最大的工商業企業……從續約和增量業務的角度來看，我們的業務照常進行。我們不斷看到客戶流失。布萊恩，我認為一般的男高音的年齡大概在三年左右。

We have seen some of the recontracting prices come down a little bit, as some of them were done when we had higher power prices, and it takes time for that to roll off. We’re seeing that, but those prices are still constructive from our perspective. When you’re looking at 2028 or late 2027–2028, which is when we expect to see the forward curve in the merchant market tighten up, I don’t think that’s impacting a lot of the one-year, two-year, even three-year renewals right now in terms of moving the needle.

我們看到一些續約合約的價格有所下降，因為其中一些合約是在電價較高的時候簽訂的，而電價的上漲需要時間才能消退。我們看到了這一點，但從我們的角度來看，這些價格仍然是合理的。當你展望 2028 年或 2027 年底至 2028 年時，我們預計屆時商家市場的遠期曲線將會收緊，我認為這目前不會對一年、兩年甚至三年的續約產生太大影響。

John, that’s exactly right. The business in the C&I segment hasn’t really faltered, even through the lower prices we have right now. The recontracting remains very robust. We continue to extract some good premiums over the financial market, and I would expect as we move forward and as some of this load starts to materialize—already reflected in the forward price—that contracting levels will ramp up a little bit as customers start to plan for those power needs in later 2027, 2028, and 2029.

約翰，你說得完全正確。即使目前價格較低，工商業領域的業務也沒有真正受到影響。續約情況依然非常強勁。我們繼續從金融市場獲得一些不錯的溢價，我預計隨著我們向前發展，隨著部分負載開始實現（已經反映在遠期價格中），隨著客戶開始為 2027 年下半年、2028 年和 2029 年的電力需求進行規劃，合約水準將略有上升。

Thank you very much for all that color. I’ll leave it there. Congratulations to both Joel and John on the announcements.

非常感謝你帶來的繽紛色彩。我就說到這裡吧。恭喜喬爾和約翰宣布這一消息。

Thanks so much, John. Thanks, John.

非常感謝你，約翰。謝謝你，約翰。

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Jefferies.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith，傑富瑞集團。

Hey, good morning, team. John, it’s been a real pleasure over the years. Joel, congrats. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you more recently—and big and exciting shoes to fill here given the data center opportunity. Speaking of which, I just want to understand a little bit more about the Green Light situation and what got posted by AESO. Inasmuch as you all articulate clear confidence that there’s still an ability to have that project in service by 2027 or 2028, what was the purpose of this AESO update that was posted? I just want to understand what exactly transpired, because there doesn’t seem to be necessarily a push in timeline from your perspective. Just to clarify that, because clearly the market’s pretty perturbed out there about this timeline issue.

嘿，早安，各位同事。約翰，這些年來與你相處非常愉快。喬爾，恭喜你。最近很高興能更深入地了解你——考慮到資料中心的機會，在這裡擔任你的職位既重要又令人興奮。說到這裡，我只是想更了解一下「綠燈」的情況以及AESO發布的內容。既然你們都明確表示有信心該專案仍能在 2027 年或 2028 年投入使用，那麼此次發布的 AESO 更新的目的是什麼呢？我只是想弄清楚到底發生了什麼，因為從你的角度來看，時間線上似乎沒有任何推進的跡象。澄清一下，因為很明顯，市場對這個時間表問題相當不安。

Yeah, and look, we know this came out—when was it—yesterday, when the updated date was identified by people. I think that’s a question fundamentally for Kineticore more than TransAlta. But I can tell you, we’ve been in discussions with Kineticore and certainly have a view on what’s going on from a governmental perspective. Based on those discussions, they’re still driving for 2027–2028—not just them, but actually their customer too, is what our understanding is.

是的，你看，我們知道這件事是什麼時候發生的……是昨天，當時人們發現了更新後的日期。我認為這從根本上來說是 Kineticore 的問題，而不是 TransAlta 的問題。但我可以告訴你，我們一直在與 Kineticore 進行討論，當然對政府方面正在發生的事情有自己的看法。根據這些討論，他們仍在為 2027-2028 年努力——不僅是他們自己，實際上他們的客戶也是如此，這是我們的理解。

I know that in the area where they’re proposing to set everything up, they’re working to make sure there are no restrictions from a transmission perspective. One of the things they’re looking at from a worst-case scenario is if they needed to do a bit of bottlenecking, what does that look like? But I don’t think that’s what they’re driving at, and certainly not as the load would be ramping in. So everything we’ve heard based on our engagements is we’re still tracking—and they’re still tracking, more importantly—to that 2027–2028 timeline. Hopefully that gives you a little bit of color.

我知道在他們計劃建造所有設施的區域，他們正在努力確保在傳輸方面沒有任何限制。他們正在考慮的最壞情況之一是，如果需要進行一些瓶頸控制，那會是什麼樣子？但我認為他們的目的並非如此，尤其是在負載逐漸增加的情況下。因此，根據我們的溝通，我們聽到的所有消息都是，我們仍在按計劃推進，更重要的是，他們也仍在按計劃推進，朝著 2027-2028 年的時間表前進。希望這能帶給你一些色彩。

Got it. So there is some focus on the potential for a bit of a bottleneck, to use your terms, but that doesn't seem to be too substantive despite the statement technically on the website. From what you understand on the practicalities of the transmission, it seems like it's a fairly minor issue.

知道了。所以，正如你所說，大家確實關注到了可能出現的一些瓶頸問題，但儘管網站上有相關聲明，但這個問題似乎並不十分實質。根據你對變速箱實際運作情況的了解，這似乎是一個相當小的問題。

Based on my understanding, that 2030 date—I don't know how to describe it—it was almost like a worst-case kind of scenario in terms of where they are. It's sort of an outside kind of date. And look, the idea through phase one is that you would have had this thing done by the end of 2028. So it's pretty clear that they've had some discussions to make sure they have full optionality around their opportunity, and candidly, we would be doing exactly the same thing. So I can tell you from our company's perspective, we continue to operate and envision things being business as usual.

根據我的理解，2030 年那個日期——我不知道該如何形容——就他們目前的處境而言，那幾乎就像是最糟糕的情況。這算是一種戶外約會吧。你看，第一階段的目標是到 2028 年底完成這件事。所以很明顯，他們已經進行了一些討論，以確保他們對該機會擁有充分的選擇權，坦白說，我們也會做同樣的事情。所以，從我們公司的角度來看，我們將繼續運營，並預計一切照常進行。

Excellent. All right, thank you for the clarification there. I appreciate it. And just a quick follow-up on Centralia. I know that's been a bit of an ongoing question. You talk about the end of the year—what should we expect specifically by then in terms of the scope of that opportunity? What are you tracking as far as it stands today for what that should look like—customer, scope of conversion, etc.?

出色的。好的，謝謝你的解釋。謝謝。關於森特勒利亞，我再簡單補充。我知道這個問題一直有人問過。你提到了年底——到那時，就這一機會的範圍而言，我們該具體期待些什麼？就目前而言，你們正在追蹤哪些指標來衡量其效果——例如客戶、轉換範圍等等？

We would expect, by the end of the year, based on the work we've done and how things are progressing with our teams—and I can tell you our customer has been outstanding to work with, they've been a great partner to us in envisioning the opportunity we have to provide reliability services to them—we would see a definitive agreement. That definitive agreement would be an omnibus agreement that would deal with the work needed to convert the facility from coal to natural gas. It would set out the revenue streams and revenue tenor. It doesn’t contemplate that more agreements would be required—it would be the agreement.

我們預計，到今年年底，根據我們所做的工作以及我們團隊的進展情況——我可以告訴你們，我們的客戶一直非常出色，他們一直是我們的好夥伴，幫助我們看到了為他們提供可靠性服務的機會——我們將達成最終協議。該最終協議將是一份綜合性協議，旨在處理將該設施從燃煤改用天然氣所需的各項工作。它將列明收入來源和收入期限。它沒有考慮到需要達成更多協議——它本身就是協議。

We've done a reasonable amount of engineering and costing work that I expect we'd be able to share with the market on the scope of the work around Centralia. That includes not just the coal-to-gas conversion but also a bit of life extension, given that we've harvested the facility a little bit, and even some controls work that we need to do. So it would be—I don't know, Blaine and his team are working on this—a comprehensive arrangement. Blaine, I don’t know if you want to add anything.

我們已經完成了相當數量的工程和成本會計工作，我預計我們可以與市場分享有關森特勒利亞週邊地區工作範圍的資訊。這不僅包括煤改氣，還包括延長使用壽命（因為我們已經對該設施進行了一些改造），甚至包括一些我們需要做的控制工作。所以這將是……我不知道，布萊恩和他的團隊正在努力……一項全面的安排。布萊恩，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的。

No, I think that’s right. And like you said, we do expect in the next six weeks leading up to Christmas that we’ll have something to announce—a true definitive agreement that spells out all the work that needs to happen over the next year as we approach bringing that facility back online on natural gas.

不，我覺得是對的。正如您所說，我們預計在聖誕節前的接下來的六週內，我們將宣布一些事情——一項真正的最終協議，其中詳細說明了在未來一年內，隨著我們逐步恢復該設施的天然氣供應，需要完成的所有工作。

Patrick Kenny, National Bank Financial.

Patrick Kenny，國家銀行金融公司。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and yeah, congrats John and Joel. Just maybe back on the rezoning at Sundance and Keephills—given the close proximity of the two sites, wondering if you could speak to how you might be thinking about integrating these two assets for a larger-scale customer, just in terms of sharing generation, transmission, even fiber and water licenses. And maybe how that might compare to your Sheerness site or perhaps give a competitive advantage over other phase two proponents.

謝謝。大家早安，還有，恭喜約翰和喬爾。或許可以回到 Sundance 和 Keephills 的重新分區問題上來——鑑於這兩個地點距離很近，我想知道您是否考慮過如何將這兩個資產整合起來，為更大規模的客戶提供服務，例如共享發電、輸電，甚至是光纖和水務許可證。或許這與你們的希爾內斯計畫場地相比如何，或者能否在與其他二期計畫支持者相比中獲得競爭優勢。

Thank you, Patrick, and good morning. What we did—3,000 acres is a significant amount of land—and our mine is quite comprehensive up there. It actually ranges on both sides of the highway. Keephills is on the south side of the highway, which runs east-west, and the Sundance facility is on the north side. So we took a comprehensive approach from a rezoning perspective to be able to flex up from a scale perspective.

謝謝你，派崔克，早安。我們所做的——3000英畝是一大片土地——而且我們在那裡的礦場規模相當大。實際上，它分佈在高速公路的兩側。Keephills 位於東西向的高速公路南側，而 Sundance 設施位於北側。因此，我們從重新規劃的角度採取了全面的方法，以便能夠從規模上靈活擴展。

Our initial view is that the site from a locational perspective would be proximate to our Keephills facility. In fact, going from memory, it's located immediately south of our Keephills facility, and that’s where we’d be looking to build out the data center and the substation. Over time, as we look to optionality and opportunity around Sundance, there is opportunity for us to do that as well. But right now, it’s more around Keephills.

我們初步認為，從地理位置來看，該地點靠近我們在基普希爾斯的工廠。事實上，憑記憶，它位於我們 Keephills 設施的正南方，我們將在那裡建造資料中心和變電站。隨著時間的推移，當我們著眼於聖丹斯電影節的各種選擇和機會時，我們也有機會做到這一點。但現在，它更多地發生在基普希爾斯附近。

We’ve got the water access we need, we’ve got existing infrastructure, the fiber is close at hand, so we’re not seeing any impediments. Getting the rezoning done was critically important, and as I mentioned earlier, it was a great process with a lot of engagement from our side and great receptivity from the folks in Parkland County, which we’re grateful for as they see the vision of what this can provide.

我們有所需的水源，我們有現有的基礎設施，光纖也近在咫尺，所以我們沒有看到任何障礙。完成重新分區至關重要，正如我之前提到的，這是一個非常棒的過程，我們這邊投入了很多精力，帕克蘭縣的人們也給予了很大的支持，我們對此表示感謝，因為他們看到了這項計劃能夠帶來的願景。

Okay, and then I guess with all these irons in the fire—Joel, I’m sure at investor day you’ll outline a funding plan—but assuming the Centralia economics on the conversion come in as expected, perhaps you could talk about how the returns might rank here in terms of Centralia versus supporting phase two load growth in Alberta, or even compared to M&A opportunities you might be looking at in the U.S.

好的，那麼我想，鑑於所有這些事情都在進行中……喬爾，我……我相信在投資者日上，你……會概述一個融資計劃……但是假設Centralia的改造經濟效益如預期，也許你可以談談，就Centralia而言，其回報與支持阿爾伯塔省第二階段負載增長相比，甚至與你可能在美國考慮的併購機會相比，排名如何。

Yeah, I would say, Pat, when we look at Centralia—again, typical with any kind of legacy asset that you can extend the life of with capital spending that’s a fraction of what it would cost for a new build—it would offer attractive risk-adjusted returns for us. We’ll provide more detail to you and the investor community at our upcoming investor day once we have definitive agreements in place so we can talk about what that would look like from a cost perspective and what kind of build multiple that would be.

是的，帕特，我想說，當我們再次審視森特勒利亞時，對於任何類型的遺留資產來說，只要投入的資本支出能夠延長其使用壽命，而這筆支出的成本僅為新建項目的一小部分，那麼它將為我們帶來有吸引力的風險調整後收益。一旦我們達成最終協議，我們將在即將舉行的投資者日上向您和投資者群體提供更多細節，以便我們可以從成本角度討論這將是什麼樣子，以及這將會帶來怎樣的建設倍數。

But again, consistent with our strategy, this would be really attractive risk-adjusted returns for us, underpinned by a long-term contract. This is how we want to position ourselves going forward—to increase the contractedness of our portfolio. Similarly, with any opportunities we see in phase two, these would be underpinned again by long-term contracts with hopefully very attractive risk-adjusted rates of return.

但同樣，根據我們的策略，這將為我們帶來極具吸引力的風險調整後收益，並有長期合約作為保障。這就是我們未來想要定位的方式——增加我們投資組合的收縮性。同樣，我們在第二階段看到的任何機會，都將再次以長期合約為基礎，並有望獲得非常有吸引力的風險調整後回報率。

And maybe on the M&A side, Joel, I think we've seen a bit of a—not compression, I can't think of the right word—but kind of a realignment. Maybe talk a little bit about renewable and gas opportunities that we're looking at, because we haven't talked about it much on the call, but we are actively looking at a number of acquisition opportunities.

或許在併購方面，喬爾，我認為我們已經看到了一些——不是壓縮，我想不出合適的詞——而是一種重新調整。或許可以稍微談談我們正在關注的再生能源和天然氣領域的機會，因為我們在電話會議上還沒有過多地談到這一點，但我們正在積極尋找一些收購機會。

Yeah, good point, John. There are a lot of opportunities out there, Pat, that we're looking at—both on the renewable side and on the thermal side. I would say that we're seeing really a convergence in multiples, if you will, where on thermal, depending on the location, contract profile, etc., the multiples are converging up toward the lower end of where we are seeing for renewables. So again, consistent with our strategy, we remain technology agnostic and focused on our three geographies for M&A opportunities. It is very robust out there right now. For us, it's just about remaining really disciplined in how we allocate our capital.

沒錯，約翰說得對。帕特，有很多機會擺在我們面前，我們正在關注這些機會——無論是在再生能源方面還是在火力方面。我認為，我們實際上正在看到各種能源價格倍數趨於一致，具體來說，火力發電的價格倍數會根據地理位置、合約條款等因素而逐漸向再生能源價格倍數的下限靠攏。因此，與我們的策略一致，我們保持技術中立，專注於我們的三個地區，尋找併購機會。目前外面的情況非常嚴峻。對我們來說，關鍵在於如何嚴格地分配資金。

Going forward. Yeah, very return-focused, I would say.

展望未來。是的，我覺得他們非常注重回報。

Okay, that's great. I appreciate the color, and yeah, I look forward to more details in the new year. Thanks.

好的，太好了。我很喜歡這個顏色，是的，我期待在新的一年看到更多細節。謝謝。

Thanks, Pat. Thanks, Pat.

謝謝你，帕特。謝謝你，帕特。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Stephanie for any closing remarks.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題了。現在我想把電話轉回給史蒂芬妮，請她做最後的總結發言。

Thank you, everyone. That concludes our call for today. If you have any further questions, please contact the TransAlta Investor Relations team.

謝謝大家。今天的通話就到這裡。如果您還有其他疑問，請聯絡 TransAlta 投資者關係團隊。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。