Construction is expected to begin next year on Greengate Power’s newest solar facility in southern Alberta, Kallanish Energy reports.

The $500 million, 400-megawatt facility will be the largest in Canada and will be one of the biggest in the world, company officials said. The complex, featuring 1.5 million solar panels, will be designed to produce enough electricity to power 100,000 houses.

The Travers Solar project on Tuesday was approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission. The facility, to be located on 4,700 acres near the village of Lomond in Vulcan County, has an expected life span of 35 years. It has been in development since 2017.

The project is expected to be one of Alberta’s largest producers of environmental attributes for compliance by large emitters under the province’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program.

Greengate, with headquarters in Calgary, has invested more than $1 billion and has developed close to 600 MW of operating or near-operating wind projects in Alberta and Ontario since 2007. That includes the 300 MW Blackspring Ridge Wind Project in Alberta, currently the biggest in Canada.

The privately-held company has plans to develop another 1,000 MW of solar and wind energy.

At present, the two largest solar farms in Canada are both 100 MW facilities in Ontario.

Canada has 138 solar facilities with at least 1 MW of capacity. They are capable of producing roughly 1,700 MW of electricity.