Proposed local Saamis Solar field faces some opposition

By COLLIN GALLANT on February 14, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

An oil company, a major Medicine Hat developer and two other north-end property owners have registered with regulators to oppose placing 300,000 solar panels on a huge parcel of land in Crescent Heights.

The Saamis Solar field, proposed nearly four years ago by Irish Renewable energy company DP Energy, would be the largest urban solar power field in North America if it is approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.

That body is now accepting public feedback until Feb. 16 on the project that could cost more than $600 million to build. At the end of that stage a permit could be approved, or a formal hearing required.

If built, the site would rival the City of Medicine Hat’s gas-powered plants in peak production, though it would put power onto the Alberta grid, and the municipal power or distribution company is not involved in the project.

Filings submitted to the AUC in that process show four parties intend on speaking against the project, or like Journey Energy, require that its interests be considered in the permitting process.

That firm purchased a majority stake in the Glauc C oilfield north of the city from Enerplus in late 2022. The city sold its minority stake in the field in 2020.

Wahl Builders, Ltd., owns land adjacent to the project site north of Parkview Drive and states in a statement of intent to participate that its scope should be limited to avoid devaluing land further east.

That land, owned by Viterra, is within city corporate boundaries and is zoned for “future urban development.”

DP has marketed the facility as finding a productive use for land that is under environmental reclamation. The initial plan was to build within the boundaries of the former WestCo fertilizer drypond, but recently announced expansions would require a larger site, including land east.

That puts some existing residential properties in Northlands within an 800-metre buffer drawn by regulators to consider impacts.

The Wahl filing states the applicant “does not identify the negative consequences that will occur to neighbouring landowners who have property with considerable development potential.”

“This development will have a very detrimental effect on the value of our land currently and in the future should this be allowed to proceed,” it reads.

The local development company controls portions of six quarter sections earmarked as a residential development opportunity on an oxbow curve of the South Saskatchewan River.

It also argues that a development permit issued in 2019 was done with out proper consultation. Renewable energy development is a permitted use in the zoning, but since the project has grown, the process should be restarted, it argues.

The project footprint would be 662 hectares (about 1,600 acres), stretching from south of the CF Industries fertilize plant to north of Division Avenue.

Resident Richard Humphries says he purchased his home with the knowledge that restrictions would leave him a largely natural view, but the project will reverse that.

“Though I am a supporter of green technology including energy, I believe this is not the right location for this project and do not support it,” he wrote.

Another real estate investor with interests in bare land near the project state claims the field will adversely affect his ability to sell his section.

Journey, through its law firm Bennett Jones, states it owns and operates several wells or other facilities in or adjacent to the project footprint.

It asks consideration be given in the planning process for its requirement to respond in a timely manner to emergencies, and that the project not hamper further exploration of mineral rights.

The City of Medicine Hat has not filed an application to be involved in the Alberta Utilities Commission process.

The project is one of three proposed in Alberta by DP Energy to place solar panels on land contaminated by fertilizer production years ago.

The land in Medicine Hat is owned by Viterra as part of its historic land bank that includes the former Westco Fertilizer site. The drypond at the plant was capped in the early 2000s but is restricted from future development.

Two other DP projects in Calgary, named Barlow Solar and Deerfoot Solar, were sold to Atco in late 2021 and are under construction.

The Medicine Hat project would also see concrete pads placed on the former Westco drypond. That would meet a restriction to not disturb the underlying phosphogypsum stack with driven piles, but the expansion would see the array extend beyond the drypond, where piles would be driven to support the panel racking.

DP Energy is required to provide noise and glare assessments. A report from NAV Canada, which operates air traffic control, says it has no objection to the plan.

[Editor’s Note: this article has been updated to correct the name of one company mentioned.]