Public feedback deadline approaches for Jenner wind farm expansion
By COLLIN GALLANT on June 9, 2021.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant A proposal to more than double the size of a wind farm to be built near Jenner is approaching a deadline for public feedback in the approval process. Jenner Wind was initially planned to be constructed in three phases, with an initial 22 turbine towers included in a successful bid to supply power to the provincial grid in late 2018. That phase would produce 122 megawatts of power in peak conditions at the location northeast of the hamlet of Jenner in Special Areas No. 2. However, last month, the developer, Potentia Renewables, applied to provincial regulators to approve the two future phases, comprising 33 more turbines, in several blocks between Highway 515 and the Red Deer River, northwest of CFB Suffield. Written submissions to the Alberta Utilities Commission on those phases are due Thursday. The projects are not the only wind projects moving ahead in that vicinity, nor the only recently announced expansion. This winter Capstone Infrastructure announced it would add a fourth phase to its “Buffalo Atlee” wind project that similarly was a successful applicant to the provincial renewable energy procurement process in 2018. It seeks to add two turbine towers to the project at the site about five kilometres east of Jenner. The company states in a newsletter to residents and interested parties that regulatory approval could be received by the fall with construction tentatively set for 2022. 11-10
