Proposed solar projects in region could total 1 GW power
By COLLIN GALLANT on December 6, 2022.
The proposed location of 'Aria Solar,' could produce up to 450 megawatts of power in peak conditions.--SUPPLIED IMAGEcgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
December has brought a flurry of new solar project applications to provincial regulators, including substantial new facilities in the southeast that could cumulatively produce one gigawatt of electricity.
That includes a plan to place panel arrays on 4,500 acres south of Seven Persons, a similarly sized project near Brooks, a long-proposed solar field along the Trans-Canada Highway near Alderson and another in a growing cluster near Burdett.
Garnering new publicity is “Aria Solar,” which was scheduled to go to County of Forty Mile planning commission this summer, but only went to public stakeholder meetings instead.
Located 33 kilometres southeast of Bow Island, 1.2 million tracking panels could produce 450 megawatts of power at peak conditions.
A local collector network and new onsite substation would join the Alberta grid at existing transmission lines in the area of Highway 887, which leads south from Seven Persons.
The applicant is legally known as Aria Wind corporation, but the project involves solar power production.
About 200 workers would be needed during construction, potentially as soon as summer of 2023, if approved, and five permanent positions would be required for operations in early 2025.
A timeline provided states local approval for land classification would move to municipal applications in the spring, following the provincial process.
As previously reported in the News, Greengate Power has sent its Luna Solar project, located 20 kilometres west of Brooks, to the AUC.
The first of two phases would see a 465-megawatt plant built with onsite battery storage capacity.
The same Alberta-based company currently operates the Travers Solar field in Vulcan County and is also seeking permits for the Jurassic Solar farm, near Dinosaur Provincial Park. A initial proposal for “Midnight” solar plus battery project sits north of Medicine Hat.
German renewable developer HEP proposed the 100-megawatt HEP Alderson project in 2016 and has now forwarded a final application to the Alberta Utilities Commission. It would see panels spread over parts of five quarter-sections north of the Trans-Canada at Range Road 105, about 13 km west of Suffield.
Panels would cover about 560 acres of an 800-acre block, considering wetlands and pipeline rights of way.
UK-based Aura Power has applied to build its 17.5 megawatt “Burdett” project on one quarter-section of land two km southwest of the hamlet in the County of Forty Mile. The site is adjacent to the existing “Burdett Solar” facility owned and operated by a separate company, BluEarth Renewables.
A deadline for intervenors to submit questions about the application is Dec. 23, submissions are due on Jan. 25 and the entire process could conclude in March.
Formal public feedback has yet to be scheduled for Aira, Alderson and Luna, but those processes should be announced soon by the AUC.
