New solar field application in NE Cypress County
By Medicine Hat News on August 20, 2024.
@MedicineHatNews A new proposal to build a substantial solar field in the far northeast of Cypress County has been submitted to provincial regulators. EDP-Renewables has applied to build the Blue Bridge Solar Park on land located north of the Empress industrial complex near the Hamlet of MacNeil. The 28 quarter-section site lays directly south of the South Saskatchewan River (which forms the boundary with Special Areas No. 2), and is bordered on the east by the provincial boundary. About 370,000 panels would be placed on smaller portions of 18 quarter-sections within the larger foot print, with land and even whole quarters left to agricultural purposes. The facility would have a maximum generating capacity of 150 megawatts and would require a new substation, called “Arenosum” by EDP, to connect to the AltaLink grid system. If approved, construction could begin in June 2025, according to the company, and be in service by late 2026. EDPR built and operates the Sharp Hills wind Farm near Oyen, and the North American subsidiary of the Spanish renewables firm has a substantial portfolio in the United States. The Blue Bridge project would be the third solar facility proposed for the area near Empress, including the 39-megawatt Empress Solar Park, currently operated by Atco. The 200-megawatt Estuary Solar project, proposed by IndyGen Greencells, was approved in July 2023 but has not yet been completed. An earlier version of this article misstated that the Blue Bridge developer was EDF Renewables, which operates the Cypress (wind) energy Centre south of Irvine. That is not the case. 12-11
