8 Months After Alberta Government Lifted Wind/Solar Moratorium, Investors Have Gone To Other Provinces
Eight months after the Alberta government lifted its moratorium on the development of new, large wind and solar electricity projects, investment has yet to return as companies choose instead to invest in other provinces. In Alberta, the wind and solar electricity sector has been weighed down not only by the lasting chill of the moratorium but by further unpredictability caused by the province's restructuring of its electricity system.
"It's just like wave after wave of uncertainty and challenge in the market," said Sol Hutson, general manager of foundation solutions with the solar tracker company Nextracker, speaking onstage earlier this week at the Electricity Transformation Canada conference in Calgary. "When businesses are faced with those types of uncertainties, they pull back a little bit and they look for other places to invest." Last year, there were about 1,000 megawatts of new wind farm projects announced in Alberta, compared to just 50 megawatts this year, says Jeff Fuchs, a senior vice-president with Vestas, a global wind turbine manufacturer that operates in all 10 provinces.
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There is so little investment in Alberta that it feels like the moratorium is still in place, says Thompson, who has built partnerships between renewable energy companies and First Nations, including equity ownership agreements. "Companies are looking at the opportunities elsewhere," he said.
The slowdown is in contrast to just a few years ago, when Alberta led the country in wind and solar investment because of its abundance of sunshine and strong winds, especially in the southern part of the province. But on Aug. 3, 2023, the province said no new renewable generation applications would be approved while it considered their effects on agriculture, the environment, municipalities and "pristine viewscapes." That pause ended in February and a new series of draft guidelines outlining where and how solar and wind projects could proceed was unveiled.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/solar-wind-investment-alberta-1.7360677