ATCO has decided on a main supplier of a unique solar panel mounting system that it will use on former fertilizer production plant sites in Calgary - sites with similar requirements to a massive related project in Medicine Hat. - SUBMITTED PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
ATCO has decided on a main supplier of a unique solar panel mounting system that it will use on former fertilizer production plant sites in Calgary – sites with similar requirements to a massive related project in Medicine Hat.
Polar Racking, based in Mississauga, Ont. says it has won the contract to supply racking systems for the Barlow and Deerfoot Solar fields inside the Calgary city limits.
A third prospective site determined by original developer DP Energy is the 1,000-acre Westco fertilizer dry pond in northwest Medicine Hat.
ATCO acquired the two Calgary projects from DP Energy in late 2021, and has lease agreements with Viterra, which owns the leftover residual ponds from fertilizer plants that are now capped and considered in the midst of environmental reclamation.
That designation from Alberta Environment bars most forms of development and all forms of ground disturbance.
DP’s plan, however, was to use cement ballasts rather than drive piles to place racks – a similar system that has been used at decommissioned landfills in Western Canada.
Polar Racking produces mounting systems for rooftop, canopy and utility-scale solar projects in Ontario and the Eastern United States.
“We’re excited to have large utilities putting their trust in our services and racking products,” said Vishal Lala, a managing partner at Polar Racking in a release. “We are proud to be supplying our racking systems to these large-scale projects, on otherwise unusable land near urban landscape, adding to our rapidly growing pipeline in North America.”
The two Calgary projects would require bi-facial racks for 175,000 panels combined to provide total generating capacity of capacity of about 92 megawatts.
The “Saamis Solar” project in Medicine Hat, which is still owned by DP Energy, would be three times larger.
