'Virtual power plant' model could convince more Albertans to switch to solar

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

An electricity retailer in Alberta is betting it can entice more homeowners to make the switch to solar panels by launching what it calls Canada's first retail, 100 per cent green energy-based "virtual power plant."

As of last week, residential customers who sign up with Calgary-based Solartility Inc. will receive a zero-down leasing option for a rooftop solar system, complete with battery storage and an EV charger system.

Most importantly, though, customers will also receive a bi-directional interval meter, which records power flow in two directions on an hourly basis.

That's what makes Solartility's business model unique, and it's what some observers say could be a game-changer when it comes to incentivizing residential renewable energy in Alberta. These two-way meters, along with Solartility's cloud-based software that manages the entire system, will allow customers to use their own stored power during periods of peak energy usage — the times when prices are highest. 

“In a nutshell, we’re maximizing export pricing and minimizing import consumption prices, in aggregate as a pool," said Solartility co-founder Shayne Butcher.

"It means that for the first time, residential solar customers in Alberta will have access to the wholesale electricity market."

Currently, owners of rooftop solar systems in Alberta can earn credits for the excess power they produce at home. But without a two-way interval meter, the price they receive for that power is simply the regulated monthly rate approved by the utilities commission.

Having a two-way meter, along with a "smart" software system to manage everything, means micro-generators can for the first time be credited for hourly wholesale power prices. In other words, Solartility's software can determine the optimal time to export solar electricity directly from the panels or from the homeowner's battery, as well as the optimal time to import power from the grid.

Butcher said the virtual power plant concept will result in electricity cost savings for Solartility customers of up to 30 per cent.

"Before, the biggest barrier was return on investment," Butcher said. 

"You’re going to go out there and lay out $35,000, $40,000 for solar panels, and the ROI’s been coming down, for sure, but it’s still upwards of 15 years nowadays to get your money back out of that system."

"A bidirectional interval meter allows the residential consumer to benefit from the excess electricity price," said Joel MacDonald, founder of online electricity rate comparison service EnergyRates.ca, adding that wholesale electricity prices can fluctuate wildly from one 15-minute block of time to the next.

"Historically, there’s been no mechanism in place for consumers to benefit from electricity pricing."

With electricity grids expected to come under increased pressure in the coming years as society embraces electric vehicles, MacDonald said, grid management is going to become increasingly important. In order to handle that increased load, as well as to account for the intermittent natures of wind and solar power, grids will have to make smart use of battery storage in periods of lower demand and then inject that power back into the grid when demand spikes, he said.

"The grid will function so much better if we can service those peaks," MacDonald said, adding that a more efficient grid should also mean more affordable electricity.

"As consumers, we think (Solartility's business model) is great, because the more people who are injecting into the grid at times of high demand will actually bring the average price down," he said.

"So it’s a win-win for the average Alberta consumer.”

If Solartility's Alberta launch is successful, the company hopes to expand its service into Ontario as well as into certain deregulated electricity markets in the U.S.

The company also plans to license its grid management software to other utilities and energy aggregators around the world.

DEREGULATED POWER
Grande Prairie scrutinizing electricity costs amid concerns about disparities across Alberta

Story by CBC/Radio-Canada • 

For about 30 years, ERCO Worldwide produced sodium chlorate, used to bleach pulp, south of Grande Prairie.© Luke Ettinger/CBC

The City of Grande Prairie plans to gather data on commercial buildings' electricity bills as they raise concerns about disparities in electricity pricing across the province.

The move comes a year after production ceased at a northern Alberta sodium chlorate facility partly because of the cost of electricity in the province.

For about 30 years, ERCO Worldwide produced sodium chlorate, used to bleach pulp, south of Grande Prairie. But last August, the company started shipping the product from B.C. and Manitoba.

John Christie, vice president of operations at ERCO, said production is more viable elsewhere because of current and future electricity costs in Alberta. He said ERCO had to temporarily curtail production when manufacturing costs were too high at the Alberta plant.

"And over the last number of years, we found that we were shutting that plant down more often than we were operating it."

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton said the closure of a business like ERCO affects other industries in the region, and that's part of why the city wants to look more closely at how electricity transmission and distribution costs look different across Alberta.

"We know that the disparity [across the province] is significant in residential and we're quite confident that it's significant in commercial too. However, we just need accurate data," Clayton said.

In 2022, the city moved an Alberta Municipalities resolution to more evenly distribute electricity costs around the province.

"The report that's going to come from administration in the next couple of months will focus on any changes that we've seen in [residential] rates, but also a lot of focus on commercial utility rates," Clayton said.

Large consumer lost

ERCO is a member of the Alberta Direct Connect Consumer Association, which represents some of Alberta's largest power users.

Executive director Colette Chekerda said electricity comprises between 25 to 60 per cent of members' operating costs. She said losing a large electricity consumer in the province, like ERCO, increases costs across the grid.

"Those responsible for paying have shrunk, but the costs haven't changed, so everyone picks up a bigger share," she said.

Chekerda said transmission fees, due to overbuilt infrastructure, are just one part of the increased cost of electricity-intensive business in Alberta.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a residential customer or a large industrial customer opening your power bills — the last six months has truly been a shock."

Chekerda said it requires policy change.

Ministry of Affordability and Utilities spokesperson Andrea Farmer said in a statementthat they are "constantly reviewing" the electricity system, and that work includes evaluating the province's existing transmission policy.

Christie said the ERCO facility near Grande Prairie is now acting as a distribution hub for sodium chlorate transported by rail to the region. But ending production contributed to around two dozen jobs lost.

"It's a very sad day when you have to close down a plant, and particularly when you have to release really good operating people and mechanical people and administrative people from a plant site," Christie said.

Christie said the feasibility of electricity-intensive production decreased following deregulation of generation in Alberta. He said the company closed its Bruderheim, Alta., plant in 2006, also due to rising electricity rates.

"Manufacturing costs for electricity began to rise. Transmission costs began to rise. And shortly afterwards, the competitiveness of electricity prices in Alberta began to become such that manufacturing these types of plants just became more and more uneconomical," he said.

Christie added that the loss of ERCO also affects economic diversity, noting the company used to purchase raw materials from the Windsor salt plant near Lindbergh, Alta.

The plant closed in August 2022, "shortly after we announced that we were going to shut down," Christie said.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chlorate

Sodium chlorate - Wikipedia 

Sodium chlorate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaClO3. It is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/516902

Sodium Chlorate | NaClO3 | CID 516902 - PubChem 

Sodium chlorate is an inorganic sodium salt that has chlorate as the counter-ion. An oxidising agent, it is used for bleaching paper and as a herbicide. It is ...

Alberta to shake up energy market by dissolving balancing pool, consumers to pay off $1.34B loan

ENERGY PRIVATIZATION UNDER ALBERTA CONSERVATIVES SCREWS ALBERTANS

Adam Lachacz
CTVNewsEdmonton.ca Digital Producer
Updated April 21, 2022

The province is making major changes to Alberta's energy market, as losses incurred under the previous NDP government are expected to be charged to Albertans over the next eight years.

On Thursday, the UCP government released an audit outlining the losses incurred by Alberta's 22-year-old electricity balancing pool, between May 1, 2015, and April 1, 2019.

Using already publicly available data, the UCP government ordered the audit in the "spirit of transparency" to "confirm" how the province's balancing pool managed fixed-price deals with electricity producers.

According to the audit, $1.34 billion was lost due to losses from the sale of electricity and services under the power purchase agreements (PPAs) scheme.

"This is $1.34 billion that Albertans have to pay off through a rate-rider," said Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity, on Thursday.

"That is a $1.34 billion that should have stayed in Albertan's bank accounts and could have been applied to any number of programs to enhance our electricity system," Nally said.

"Instead it was wasted and exists today as ratepayer debt being paid off on electricity bills through a surcharge that is expected to run until 2030."

The rate rider is expected to be charged on utility bills until as late as 2030.

In 1998, PPAs were developed by the Progressive Conservative government as a way to transition toward a competitive electricity market and produce more power to prevent brownouts.

Three electricity generators owned the vast majority of facilities in the province, including the Edmonton Power Corporation (now Capital Power), Alberta Power (now ATCO Energy), and TransAlta Corporation.

"The three big players got to hold onto the physical assets, operate them, their engineers on the ground, but new players would own the rights to control when they operate and what price they charge into the pool," said Blake Schaffer, University of Calgary economics professor.

PPAs were intended to allow new electricity vendors to the market, while also allowing compensation to the companies who owned generation plants.

The balancing pool was created as a quasi-artificial market for new utility companies to buy off PPAs until they expired at the end of 2020.

"The balancing pool was generating a lot of money for Albertan consumers for about 16 years," Schaffer said. "So those gains were handed back to your bill."

According to Nally, that was around $4 billion, which was returned to consumers on their utility bill in the form of a credit, that for the average residential customer ranged between $2 to $3.

From 2016 to 2018, Schaffer said low energy prices and the increase in carbon tax eroded profits. A clause in the PPAs allowed companies to hand them back to the balancing pool should a change in government regulation make them unprofitable.

"That's where the rebate on your bill flipped from a $2 to $3 positive to a $2 to $3 negative for the average residential customer," Schaffer said.

That small negative charge was due to the balancing pool taking out a loan and charging a rate rider to Albertans to recoup lost revenue over multiple years.

"Albertans deserved better and should not be tripped by promises to decrease utility bills with taxpayer-funded rate caps or other shortsighted policies that both contribute to inflation and do nothing to enhance future capacity or to foster competition," Nally said.

DISSOLVING THE BALANCING POOL

Nally announced the UCP would table legislation in the near future that would officially phase out the balancing pool, thereby "increasing competition" and "modernizing" Alberta's electricity system.

"We are fixing the mistakes made by the NDP," Nally said. "We are doing what it takes to support Albertans and to provide safe, reliable, and affordable electricity for consumers and a competitive market for investors."

As the government dissolves the balancing pool, Schaffer wonders what will happen to the rate rider recouping losses incurred by the government agency while it operated.

"Is that going to continue to be a rider on our bills or is the government simply taking over that debt or absolving it?" he asked.

'IT WASN'T ABOUT WHAT'S NEW'

When questioned about why the government completed the audit, when the information was already publicly available, Nally said it was a campaign promise the UCP made to Albertans.

"It wasn't about what's new, it was about confirming what we thought we knew and that's what this report does," he said. "This independent report confirms that it was $1.34 billion."

At the time, the UCP promised it would task the auditor general with completing a special duty audit, not hiring an external agency to complete the review.

"Our position was that we don't think Albertans were concerned who did the audit but that it was an independent organization that did the audit," Nally said.

Nally said he did not know how much the audit cost Alberta taxpayers. CTV News Edmonton has requested that information from his office.

"We’re working with all parties involved and will share the final costs of the independent review as soon as possible," said Taylor Hides, Nally's press secretary.

A PROPER AUDIT?

Deloitte, the independent firm hired by the province to complete the audit, was instructed by the province to examine from May 2015 to April 2019, with that period specifically "requested."

"It is interesting or odd to me that the calculation of that," Schaffer said. "(It) was specifically done to end part way through 2019.

"The balancing pool existed and managed the PPAs until the end of 2020," the economist added. "And prices were higher in 2019, in 2020, than they were previously. So if they switched to profitability that point was excluded in the calculation?

"So in my view, if they were doing a proper audit on the balancing pool's losses they should've done the full term," Schaffer said.

'WERE BAD DEALS'

Kathleen Ganley, NDP energy critic, said in a statement that the PPAs were "bad deals" signed by previous conservative governments in the 90s.

SHE IS CORRECT IT DATES BACK TO KING RALPH, SEE BELOW

"(They) guaranteed the profits of utility companies by tying the hands of government and exposing Alberta taxpayers to unreasonable risks," Ganley said.

"No government should have ever signed such one-sided deals," Ganley added. "The same approach is being taken by the UCP today."

The energy critic called on the government to reinstate rate caps for electricity prices to offer affordability to Albertans, otherwise utility payers remain vulnerable to "steep increases."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: The Wild West Buyout 

West’s most successful privatization effort benefited privately owned Trans Alta Utilities, a company where the Alberta Government has historically put to pasture its retired cabinet ministers[5]. On their behalf he convinced Klein to deregulate electricity in the province.

“Privatization in Alberta was all but dormant until Klein realized he was in danger of being exposed as the neo-liberal he really is. Everything that could be usefully privatized – liquor stores and registry offices – had been, but the ideologue Steve West was able to convince Klein that Alberta’s stable electricity industry needed to be deregulated,” wrote columnist, Hamish MacAulay at the time.

The deregulation of electricity was controversial at the time, being opposed by both public utilities like the City of Edmonton’s EPCOR and private utilities like Tory Bag Man Ron Southern’s ATCO. Even business opposed the idea of deregulation, as much as the socialist NDP did.

So far deregulation has cost Alberta consumers millions in increased costs, has not produced infrastructure expansion(5) but has allowed Trans Alta to market electricity across Canada and into the U.S. which was its purpose all along.

A Calgary CIPS forum in the fall of 2001 on how the electrical industry in Alberta has experienced significant changes in the form of deregulation "Alberta is leading Canada and many other countries in this area. Dawn Farrell, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development at TransAlta Utilities, will discuss this question, based on her extensive experiences in the industry. Dawn will discuss how TransAlta re-invented itself within the Alberta context, what strategic decisions were made and why, and how, in hindsight, all of these decisions were the right ones.[6] “

THAT YOU WERE WARNED ABOUT

Unforeseen circumstances to blame

 for Texas electricity fiasco

February 27, 2021

During an emergency board meeting of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Bill Magness, ERCOT CEO, outlined the events that took place between February 14 and 18 that ultimately led to the humanitarian crisis that many Texas residents are still in the midst of now.

An oversimplified view of the Texas electricity market

First of all, it’s necessary to understand how the electricity market works in Texas. It’s a free market. The players in the market are the electricity generators and the utilities who control the poles and wires and serve the customers. Then there is the system operator that works between the two. That system operator is ERCOT. (The customers buy their electricity from retail electricity providers who buy it from the generators themselves but that’s beside the point for this article.)

Think of ERCOT as an orchestra conductor, directing instruments to turn up or turn down as needed to keep the grid in balance. (Remember that with electricity, you have to keep supply and demand perfectly balanced at all times.)

Because it’s a free market with little regulation, the conductor (ERCOT) does not have the authority to impose fees or set rules for the generators. For example, ERCOT is not allowed to tell a particular generator that they won’t be able to play in the orchestra if they don’t do XYZ. Instead, ERCOT relies on market prices to serve as motivation to keep those generator plants humming along as much as they can. That way, if and when some generators can’t provide energy (there is less supply), the price for electricity goes up so those that CAN provide, do and reap the rewards of being online at the right time. In fact, it is these “scarcity events” that help drive the development of new generation, so in general, they are not a bad thing.

Overall, the market works very well in normal conditions. Most Texans will tell you they have very low electricity prices as a result of being deregulated.

Load Shed Ordered by Transmission Owner

At certain times, however, there just isn’t enough supply, no matter how high the price goes, and that’s when ERCOT’s only tool is to shed demand. To do that, it orders the utilities to turn off power to certain customers based on the number of megawatts their customers use (see chart). Utilities have plans for this and understand how they will do that fairly and in the most equitable way possible. For example, they don’t want to shut down hospitals or other critical care facilities. In a normal emergency, this load shed can be distributed across a service territory, so a certain subset of customers only lose power for a couple of hours, then they are turned back on and another neighborhood goes dark for a couple of hours.

But what happened in Texas on February 14-18, 2021 was an event that was not foreseen and could not have been predicted mostly because of the sheer numbers involved. Because the temps were so cold and so many generators couldn’t generate electricity (another article for another time) ERCOT turned to rolling blackouts. But, the rolling blackouts that should normally only last a couple of hours turned into multiple days and that led to all kinds of disastrous consequences.

February 2011 compared to February 2021

While many stakeholders are crying foul because the event was precedented by a similar cold snap in February 2011 that led to rolling blackouts — and there are some similarities to the events of February 1-5, 2011 — the numbers are staggeringly different. Let’s look:

	2011	2021
Maximum generation capacity forced out at any given time (MW)	14,702	52,277
Generation forced out one hour before the start of EEA3 (MW)	1,182	2,489
Cumulative generation capacity forced out through the event	29,729	46,249
Cumulative number of generators unable to perform throughout the event	193	356
Cumulative gas generation de-rated due to supply issues	1,282	9,323
Lowest frequency	59.58	59.30
Maximum load shed requested (MW)	4,000	20,000
Duration of load shed requested (hours)	7.5	70.5
Estimated peak load without load shed	59,000	76,818

The numbers that are most striking are load shed and duration. This time around, ERCOT requested 5X the amount of load be shed and for almost 10X longer. And that doesn’t correlate with the temperature. It was not 10X colder. It wasn’t even 5X colder. And the cold didn’t last 10X as long, it didn’t even last 5X as long.

Look at the numbers:

Number of Consecutive Hours Below Freezing 2011 VS 2021

Location	2011	2021
DFW	101	140
Austin	69	162
Houston	34	44

Finally, in his report, Magness outlined what recommendations were implemented after the 2011 event. He said the entity made the following modifications:

• Implemented the Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy report that includes an analysis for extreme winter weather.
• Began a resource weatherization process that includes an annual workshop, review of resource weatherization plans and spot checks of facilities.
• Added additional staff (Shift Engineer and Resource Reliability Desk) in the control room.
• Modified the Ancillary Services procurement to allow additional procurement in anticipation of severe weather.
• Established the Gas Electric Working Group and created a notification procedure for QSEs to notify ERCOT if there are anticipated fuel restrictions.
• Modified the survey sent to natural gas generators that collects fuel switching capability for some resources in preparation for each winter season.
• Changed the rules and processes for withdrawing approval of resource outages in anticipation of severe weather.

It’s also important to understand what would happen if they didn’t shed that load and the grid completely failed. In this case, all power to all facilities would be off – no cell phones, no hospitals, no banks, nothing. And to get the grid back up and running after an event like that would take weeks.

No doubt, experts will be studying the events that took place February 14-18, 2021 for a very long time. ERCOT is still awaiting generator reports that will help it begin to dissect why so many electricity generators were unable to perform. They know that lack of weatherization played a role, but they would like a full report. And, there’s the market aspect to contend with. When those electricity prices shot up to $9000 per MWh (the market cap), those who still were receiving electricity were hit with massive bills, which could ultimately affect every single customer in Texas.

Originally published on power-eng.com

Alberta renewables sector fears politicization of energy as moratorium ends

Alberta green energy firms tired of divisiveness (FROM SMITH & UCP)

Amanda Stephenson The Canadian Press


Solar panels pictured at the Michichi Solar project near Drumheller, Alta., Tuesday, July 11, 2023. A seven-month pause on wind and solar development in Alberta is coming to an end, but some involved in the sector say their industry's future growth in the province is threatened by creeping politicization. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshJMC


CALGARY - A seven-month pause on wind and solar development in Alberta is coming to an end, but some involved in the sector say increased politicization threatens its future growth.

The industry was caught off guard last August by the UCP government's move to impose a temporary moratorium on new wind and solar approvals in the province to give it time to study issues related to land use, reclamation and grid reliability.

That moratorium is set to expire Thursday, after which the government is expected to unveil new rules to guide future wind and solar development in the province.

But Dan Balaban, CEO of Greengate Power Corp., said the government-imposed pause on the renewables sector is just one piece of an increasingly contentious public debate that has left the wind and solar industry feeling like a political football.

"This is really about the politics of energy," said Balaban, whose company was behind the development of the Travers Solar farm in southern Alberta, one of the largest solar projects in the world.

"It's very disappointing because I think there are pragmatic solutions to get us to where we ultimately need to be in terms of providing clean, reliable and affordable energy, and the politics of division aren't going to get us there. For me, as an entrepreneur, it's very off-putting."

The government-imposed moratorium was a response to what has been an explosion of growth in the province's renewable energy in recent years. In 2022, 75 per cent of all new wind and solar projects in Canada were built in Alberta, thanks to the province's sunny skies, abundance of wind and unique deregulated electricity market.

But the rapid growth led to questions from rural communities about who would be on the hook to clean up renewable energy infrastructure as well as concerns around the use of food-producing agricultural land for renewable energy development.

Balaban said all of those questions are valid, but Alberta's move to shut down the industry while seeking answers was "a very negative signal."

"It really feels like the renewable energy industry was singled out," he said.

"I agree that all of these things need to be reviewed, but I certainly don't see the same level of scrutiny and negativity being directed toward other industries."

At the time the moratorium was announced, there were 118 renewable energy projects proposed by 64 different development companies either in the permitting stage or about to apply for permitting in Alberta.

Jorden Dye, director of Business Renewables Centre Canada — which works to help businesses and institutions reduce their emissions by connecting buyers and sellers of renewable power — said whether or not the moratorium has a long-term chilling effect on the industry will depend on what regulations are introduced.


"There's a very broad range of changes they (the government) could make, starting with minimal impact all the way up to major impact with a massive reduction in projects," Dye said.

But like Balaban, Dye said he is concerned in general about the public discourse around renewables, which has intensified due to opposition from Alberta and neighbouring Saskatchewan about the federal government's proposed clean electricity regulations.

"I do think it's sad this has become politicized," Dye said. "Not only does it keep us from focusing on the actual issues, it just reduces the level of conversation in the province."

Dye pointed to what happened when Alberta was forced to declare an emergency grid alert during an extreme cold snap in January. Premier Danielle Smith called renewables "unreliable" even though two natural gas-fired power plants were also offline at the time, while Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said on social media that power exports from his province to Alberta would be coming from "natural gas and coal-fired plants, the ones the Trudeau government is telling us to shut down (which we won't)."

Vittoria Bellissimo, president and CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, said she was discouraged by the number of "hot takes" the grid advisory sparked and said she has been working hard to increase the UCP government's understanding of renewable energy generally.

"It's not one type of energy versus another type of energy here. We have oil and gas producers who buy renewables to satisfy their electricity needs and ESG obligations. We have natural gas-fired generators who also produce renewables," she said.

"There is no line in the sand, or us versus them."

Balaban said he thinks his industry has been damaged by the "hostile rhetoric" between the province and the federal government over net-zero goals, which is taking momentum away from the growth of the renewables sector in Alberta.

He said his own company is not pursuing any new developments in Alberta until it is confident that any forthcoming new rules for the sector will be "clear, fair and objective."

"You know, increasingly in the world we're seeing ourselves being defined by division on major issues," he said.

"Energy is just one of those major issues and arguably one of the most important ones in Alberta. And this is unfortunately how it's playing out."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2024.

CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE DEPT.

Calgary·Analysis

Alberta gives cold shoulder to wind and solar industry, as the rest of the world is clamouring for more

Province will lift ban on new projects this week and begin introducing new rules

Kyle Bakx · CBC News · Posted: Feb 27, 2024 

The Alberta government will lift its ban on approving new wind and solar projects on February 29. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

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The Alberta government's seven-month ban on new large-scale wind and solar power projects will end this week, but the province is unlikely to return to its previous status as a hotbed of investment.

Alberta is known for its sunshine and strong winds, especially in the southern region of the province. Those conditions combined with a deregulated electricity system helped drive a flurry of activity in the last decade.

In 2022, more than three-quarters of all the wind and solar built in the country was located in Alberta. Solar and wind now account for about 30 per cent of installed electricity capacity in the province.

Last summer, the Alberta government decided to hit the brakes on the thriving sector by introducing a moratorium on approving any new proposals while launching an inquiry to examine issues including the impact on agricultural land, concerns about reliability and the need for mandatory reclamation.

While the ban lifts this week, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) is awaiting direction from the provincial government about how to proceed. There will be new rules placed on the wind and solar sector.

Globally, the solar industry, in particular, is growing rapidly, with investments even outpacing the oil and natural gas industry last year as the cost of panels has fallen in recent years.

"Alberta hit pause in the midst of a growth curve, and Alberta was the No. 1 destination in Canada for solar investment," said Thomas Timmins, a Toronto-based commercial lawyer with Gowling WLG serving clients in renewable energy project development and finance.

"It's hard to say" whether companies will return to the province, he said, because Alberta's reputation took a hit as an investment destination.

The Alberta government's inquiry focused on several issues including the development of solar and wind projects on agricultural land and the impact on Alberta’s viewscapes. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

While Alberta rethinks how much renewable electricity it wants and what restrictions to place on the sector, other governments in Canada, the United States and around the world are competing to attract investment to grow their amount of solar and wind power.

"It's a global industry and it's a highly liquid and fluid industry. So Alberta is competing not just with Saskatchewan, not just with Manitoba, not [just] with Ontario, not [just] with Nova Scotia and Quebec, but also with every U.S. state," said Timmins. 

The pause on approvals for new renewable energy projects is affecting 118 projects worth $33 billion of investment in Alberta, according to the Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think-tank.

Wind and solar power account for about 30 percent of electricity production in Alberta. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

Easy to invest elsewhere

The Sharp Hills wind farm is the newest large-scale renewable energy project in Alberta, after nearly 70 turbines began operating in January. The nearly 300-megawatt project is located near the town of Sedalia, about 300 kilometres east of Calgary, and was unaffected by the province's moratorium because it was already approved and under construction.

The wind farm was developed by EDP Renewables, which is also pursuing a new 150-megawatt solar project in the southeast corner of the province near Medicine Hat. The company intends to apply to begin the permitting process soon.

"I find it a bit strange to have a moratorium on certain technologies rather than all technologies, if what's needed is a pause," said Thomas LoTurco, an Indianapolis-based executive vice-president with the company, about Alberta's wind and solar ban.

LoTurco says he's worried about a backlog of projects seeking approval in the province and about delays in developing projects. 

While EDP pursues its proposed solar farm in Alberta, it's just one of many projects on the go.

EDP is a global renewable energy company operating in 28 different markets around the world, including France, Brazil and Vietnam.

In North America alone, the company has 3,000 megawatts of projects currently under construction and another 30,000 megawatts of projects in the planning stages. EDP aims to build about 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts of projects every year in North America.

Many provincial and state governments across North America recognize the need for renewable energy, said LoTurco, as electricity consumption climbs. He pointed to Ontario as an example, since the province announced in December its intention to secure 5,000 megawatts of renewable electricity, its first major renewables procurement in seven years.

"It's just a realization in a place like Ontario — that realization will hit everybody, that we're getting more electrified going forward," he said.

Turbine blades and sections of the metal tower are stored at a yard near Hanna, Alta, before they are installed. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

Reliable power

Alberta's premier isn't so sure.

Danielle Smith wants more power plants, but not necessarily wind and solar because of their intermittency.

"We have to make sure that we're bringing on a responsible amount of solar and wind so that we always have dispatchable power,... things like nuclear and hydroelectric, geothermal and natural gas," she said on CBC's Power & Politics.

"That's got to be the basis for how we build our system, and then solar and wind can augment," added Smith.

• Canada's power grids increasingly at risk from winter storms, heat waves

• Balmy temperates, robust production sink natural gas prices

The province's inquiry was split into two parts. The first report was received in January, while the second is due by the end of March.

The provincial government will announce some regulatory changes in the coming days.

"The Alberta government will be setting a clear and responsible path forward for renewable energy development. This will begin ahead of the approvals pause lifting," said Ashley Stevenson, press secretary to Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf, in an emailed statement.

The Sharp Hills wind farm is located near the town of Sedalia, about 300 km east of Calgary. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

After the government receives the second inquiry report next month, it will "continue announcing the next steps forward to enhance the energy market. These policies will apply to project approvals going forward," said Stevenson.

In the meantime, some companies have shifted their focus away from Alberta since the moratorium was announced.

BluEarth Renewables put on hold its projects (of about 400 megawatts) in the province and instead invested in renewable energy facilities in other Canadian provinces and U.S. states.

"The moratorium basically threatened a very strong, open market," said company president Grant Arnold. 

"We will invest here when conditions allow us to do so," he said.

But first, he'll need to see how any new rules will impact the cost and time it takes to develop a project. Arnold said there will also need to be fairness and stability toward wind and solar companies compared to other electricity producers in the province.

WATCH | 3 ways the world is making progress on green energy: 

Varcoe: 

Wary renewables industry seeks fairness as Alberta's moratorium expires this week

With the freeze expected to end this week, wind and solar developers will be watching to ensure projects aren’t facing extraordinary new rules or barriers that other industries don’t face

Author of the article:Chris Varcoe • Calgary Herald
Published Feb 26, 2024 • 

Greengate Power CEO Dan Balaban was photographed in Calgary on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Alberta’s controversial pause on approving new renewable energy projects will end Thursday and industry developers say they’re looking for one principle to guide its outcome and future investment in their sector.

Equitable treatment.

The industry was stunned by the UCP government’s decision last August to place a moratorium on approving new renewable projects while it examines policy issues surrounding the sector’s rapid expansion.

With the freeze expected to end this week, wind and solar developers will be watching to ensure projects aren’t facing extraordinary new rules or barriers that other industries don’t face when it comes to accessing land, or mandatory remediation requirements once a facility reaches the end of its life.

“Those are all valid things to review in the context of a fast-growing industry like renewables, but the moratorium was unnecessary,” said Dan Balaban of Calgary-based Greengate Power, one of the largest renewable developers in the province.

“That didn’t seem like a fair move to me. So, I hope that whatever comes out of the inquiry will be fair.”

The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) has examined the sector’s speedy development and the implications of its growth on the use of prime farmland for wind and solar farms, along with the effect on “Alberta’s pristine viewscapes,” and the possibility of mandatory reclamation security requirements for new projects.

In 2022, Alberta’s deregulated energy market was home to more than 75 per cent of all newly installed renewable energy capacity added in Canada, growing to more than 90 per cent last year, according to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association.


Alberta added 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable capacity in 2023, as previously approved projects weren’t affected by the moratorium.

At the time, Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf said the pause was necessary as “Alberta has a bit of a Wild, Wild West feel to it,” with a surge of projects brought before the AUC.

Earlier this month, Premier Danielle Smith said the province will not allow the “sterilizing” of prime agricultural land by projects, indicating developers would have to consider using marginal farmland or adopt agrivoltaics, which allows for solar generation and agricultural production

She also suggested Alberta’s plan would need to ensure money is set aside by operators for future cleanup costs.

“It is totally appropriate to talk about the need for all industrial projects to post some kind of security, but conventional oil and gas doesn’t need to post some kind of security,” said Simon Dyer, deputy executive director of the Pembina Institute, which has called for equitable treatment for clean energy developments in the province.

“I imagine Alberta would be the only jurisdiction in the world to consider renewable energy riskier than oil and gas development.”

On a weekend radio program, Smith reiterated the pause will come off Thursday and said the province will provide more clarity about adding renewables to the electricity grid in the future.

She also pointed to the extreme cold weather last month, when the province’s grid operator issued an emergency alert and considered imposing rolling blackouts amid high power use and a lack of electricity generation.

“We need to bring on a responsible amount of wind and solar and always ensure that we have enough baseload dispatchable power so that it can be backed up. So, it might be a slower pace of growth,” the premier said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith addresses a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Smith is to give a television address to Albertans on Wednesday evening. PHOTO BY SEAN KILPATRICK /The Canadian Press

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association recommends there not be any retroactive policy changes that affect projects already built or filed with the AUC.

The industry group is calling for the government to adopt “reasonable” reclamation security requirements — using estimates made by experts in the field — and it opposes a blanket ban on land use for new projects, said Evan Wilson, vice-president of policy with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association.

“Let’s move forward in a way that is constructive and not about the government deciding what we can and can’t do, but more about providing transparency on how we are doing,” Wilson said Monday.

Many players in the industry note that rural landowners decide if they want to strike agreements that allow wind or solar developments on their property.

Rural Municipalities of Alberta president Paul McLauchlin said he hopes to see standardized rules around reclamation — some agreements with landowners already include them — and he points out land use needs to involve community planning conversations.

“I fully believe in landowner rights but, at the same time, also believe in landowner rights for your neighbour. The fact is, you can’t do whatever you want on your land,” said McLauchlin, who is also the reeve of Ponoka County.

“This is a good day for renewables. I think the opportunity is still there and it will never go away. And it requires just a little more front-end, sophisticated discussion by the industry, landowners, as well as the regulator.”

Solar panels at the Travers Solar Project with wind turbines behind them west of Lomond, Alta. Mike Drew/Postmedia

Aside from renewable development, the provincial government is also reviewing the overall design of the electricity market in Alberta, and other aspects of the power system.

The head of TransAlta Corp., the province’s largest power generator, which has both renewable and gas-fired units, said stability is critical to making long-term investment decisions.

“We’re close to getting some of that certainty or clarity from an Alberta market perspective over the course of the next probably 45 days or so,” TransAlta CEO John Kousinioris said Friday on an analysts’ call.

Greengate, which developed the country’s largest solar farm — the Travers Solar Project, southeast of Calgary in Vulcan County — is also waiting to see what comes out of the ongoing examinations.

Any decisions coming out of the pause will influence how it views future investment opportunities in its home province.

“What we really need to do is get through those reviews as soon as we reasonably can, put in a set of rules that are fair and let the industry get back to doing what it does,” Balaban said.

“We’re waiting to see how things unfold before we decide if we’re going to invest in any new renewable projects in Alberta.”

Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.
cvarcoe@postmedia.com

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