Renewable energy developments in Alberta to face strict new rules
Proponents say new limits will slam the brakes on industry's rapid growth in Alberta
New rules will limit where developers can build wind turbines in Alberta and make it harder to install solar panels on farmland.
Premier Danielle Smith announced on Wednesday a host of new restrictions on renewable power installations that drew praise from rural municipalities and frustration from green energy proponents.
With 92 per cent of Canada's new renewable energy generation and capacity built in Alberta in 2023, the growing industry was moving too fast with too few restrictions, Smith said during a news conference in Edmonton.
"Renewables have a place in our energy mix, but the fact remains that they are intermittent and unreliable," Smith said. "They are not the silver bullet for Alberta's electricity needs and they are not the silver bullet of electricity affordability."
As promised, the provincial government on Thursday will end a seven-month pause on the regulator approving proposed new renewable energy projects. There are 26 projects awaiting approval, Smith said.
During the pause, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), which regulates the local utilities sector, held an inquiry studying land use, reclamation and grid reliability.
By Friday, the rules of the game will be substantially changed for an industry that invests billions of dollars in the province.
Drawing the most shock was the imposition of a new 35-kilometre buffer zone around protected areas and "pristine viewscapes" — a description Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf acknowledged Wednesday is subjective. New wind turbines will be forbidden in those zones and other projects will be subject to a visual impact assessment.
If that buffer zone is applied to all parks and protected areas in southern Alberta, three-quarters of the land would be off limits for turbines, said Jason Wang, senior analyst with the Pembina Institute's electricity program. The institute is a think-tank for clean energy transition policy.
"That's where most of Alberta's renewable advantage is," Wang said. "It's in the sunny south. It's in the windy parts of the province."
Wang said it's an unfair standard applied to one type of energy project.
Neudorf's press secretary Ashley M. Stevenson said the government has yet to establish the no-go windmill zones. They will be focused on western Alberta, nearer the Rocky Mountains.
Alberta will no longer allow renewable power installations on its most versatile and productive farmland — termed Class 1 and Class 2 soil — unless the project's proponent can show how crops or livestock can use the land at the same time.
A government spokesperson said this applies to about 27 per cent of the province's agricultural land.
Heather MacKenzie, executive director of Solar Alberta, an industry advocate, said builders already avoid installing panels on good farmland.
A University of Calgary analysis last year found that installing enough solar panels, allowing Alberta to achieve a net zero power grid by 2035, would use 0.08 per cent of the province's agricultural land at most.
Smith said renewable energy project developers will also have to post a bond or a security to be held in trust to cover potential future clean-up costs. It's an approach the province should have taken from the outset with the oil and gas industry, she said.
The Alberta Energy Regulator says there are currently more than 170,000 wells across the province that are either inactive or abandoned.
"You don't correct that problem by compounding it," Smith said of the renewable requirements.
The provincial government does not yet have details on how a renewables liability management program would work, nor how it would compare to the obligations by oil and gas companies.
The government also opened the door to renewable developments on Crown land on a case-by-case basis — news welcomed by industry players.
The AUC said 25 of the projects seeking approval are solar installations; one is wind. Some have adjoining storage, substation and connection facilities. Together, they would generate 3,450 megawatts of power, if all approved.
New voices for municipalities
A new, automatic seat at the table for municipalities at AUC approval hearings is a win for the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), president Paul McLauchlin told CBC News Wednesday. The provincial government will also help cover the costs of their participation in those hearings.
RMA, an advocacy organization, had also pushed for reassurance on land reclamation and protection of agricultural land.
Municipalities shouldn't have veto power, McLauchlin said, because county reeves and councillors could pay the political price for approval of a project that's in the province's best interest.
In Vulcan County, a sparsely populated part of southern Alberta that's home to Canada's largest wind and solar installations, residents felt the industry was moving too fast, Reeve Jason Schneider said Wednesday.
Although most companies worked collaboratively with the county, the lack of rules led to "hard feelings" and suspicion, he said.
"It is going to allow residents a little more assurance that the projects are being done properly, and we're not going to have a big mess on their hands in 20, 25 years when they come to the end of their life," he said.
However, the Canadian Renewable Energy Association said in a news release that banning projects from some areas means municipalities will lose out on tax revenues and lease payments.
Critics, including the Opposition NDP, see the new rules as hurdles to Alberta achieving net zero electricity generation by 2050 as promised, and risks limiting affordable and diverse sources of power, which could further increase electricity prices.
The new policies also prompt more questions than answers and leave the industry in limbo, they say.
Dan Balaban, CEO of Calgary-based Greengate Power Corporation, says his company has stopped developing new projects in Alberta until they know where the goalposts are.
"They're definitely not a flashing green light," Balaban said of the new rules on green energy projects. "At the very best, a yellow light, and possibly worse."
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With files from Tiphanie Roquette, Madeline Smith and Travis McEwan