NEWS FILE PHOTO A wind turbine is seen in this undated file photo.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The Bow Island region has scored a second major wind power facility after Berkshire Hathaway’s Canadian energy wing on Tuesday gave the green light to build the $200-million Rattlesnake Ridge next year.
The project would see 28 turbines erected about five kilometres east of the town and would produce 117 megawatts of power at peak production.
That’s enough to power 78,000 homes and it is moving ahead without any government subsidy, according to a company release that includes a statement of support from Premier Jason Kenney.
It’s the second major facility given the go-ahead near Bow Island and in the County of Forty Mile, but the first without a public sector supply contract, nor is it the only or biggest proposed for the area by the giant company owned by one of the world’s richest men.
“BHE Canada is excited to take this first step into the Alberta market, providing low-cost, renewable energy. We’re looking forward to more opportunities to invest in Alberta’s energy industry.” said William Christensen, a vice-president with BHE Canada, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
Also outlined prominently in the release is plans to build a wind farm nearly three times the size south of Bow Island.
Along with the Capital Power Whitla Wind Farm that’s nearing completion, it brings to total dollars for renewable power construction in the County of Forty mile to more than a half-billion over two years.
That will also provide tax assessment and potentially millions of dollars in tax revenue each year for the county of 3,600 residents.
BHEC expects that 150 workers will be employed at peak construction level on Rattlesnake Wind, which would take about 18 months to construct.
“This exciting new energy project will add to Alberta’s impressive renewable energy network, and is a vote of confidence in our economy,” Kenney stated in the company release. “(It) does not rely on government subsidies, but instead relies on the potential and opportunity that exists right here in Alberta.”
The project’s lack of financial support from government lends to what utility industry officials have been saying for some time; that wind and other renewable energy production is becoming the most cost-effective way to add new generating capacity.
That’s due to better, cheaper and more efficient technology.
The project is being financed in house and by debt at BHEC, the Canadian wing of the Warren Buffett-controlled investment company.
It’s being built in conjunction with the firm, Renewable Energy Services, which set up an office in Bow Island this summer to meet with stakeholders after several years of obtaining regulatory approval.
BHEC is also working toward the construction of the “Forty Mile Wind” project, which would be positioned east of the Forty Mile Reservoir and could have a capacity of nearly 400 megawatts.
Also planned for that area is a similarly sized, similarly named wind farm proposed by Suncor.
Next door, Capital Power broke ground on its Whitla Wind project this year. The $325-million project is scheduled to be complete by the end of December.
The project would be the third major wind farm to go ahead by private industry.
EDF Renewables will appear before Cypress County council today for final debate on establishing a Wind Energy Facility land-use district between Dunmore and the Cypress Hills to build the “Cypress Wind” facility next year.
Three others are set to move ahead in the Special Areas, near Jenner, next year after they were awarded contracts in the Alberta government’s low-bid auction process in late 2018 which returned record low supply prices in Canada for green energy.
BHEC is currently “looking for partners in long-term power purchase agreements” for it’s larger Forty Mile wind project, according to the release.
