Company not giving up on its proposed wind farm in SE Alberta

By COLLIN GALLANT on April 14, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The company behind one of the longest standing proposals to build a wind farm in southeast Alberta says it will resubmit plans next month for the Peace Butte Wind project next month.

Pteragen Canada was told last month by provincial utility regulators that considering the length of time since it received construction approvals for the planned turbine field near Seven Persons, its permits would be rescinded.

The head of the company, Carlo Plava of Renovalia Energy, told the News on Tuesday that new stakeholder information sessions for the project are already scheduled and the company hopes to have new approvals by the end of 2021.

He is also confident the project, first proposed in 2006, could move relatively quickly toward construction considering improved economics in wind power.

“We’re getting ready to resubmit the permit and we’re letting stakeholders and the community know that,” said Plava.

He said letters to affected stakeholders in the area south of Seven Persons should be arriving this week, and a virtual public information meeting will be staged May 4.

That is part of requirements of the Alberta Utility Commission when it considers large power projects.

The 120-megawatt wind farm was granted building approvals in 2013, then was allowed a series of two-year extensions as Pteragen awaited for the right business conditions to begin the project.

Since then, the company has also altered its proposal, reducing the number of towers from 60 to 22, and employing higher-capacity wind turbines. The latest request for an extension was denied by the AUC in March. It said the long timeline, plus evolving regulations from Alberta Environment, would require a new submission.

“One of the main reasons is that Alberta Environment is trying to reduce (disturbance) on native prairie,” said Plava.

“Fewer towers also translates to smaller collector system, which all reduces costs.”