The City of Medicine Hat has announced plans to buy a 300-plus MW solar park from DP Energy, which is approved to be built on 1,600 acres just south of the CF Industries fertilizer plant.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
@@CollinGallant cgallant@medicinehatnews.com
A former MLA is blasting a plan by the city to add major solar electricity production to its power portfolio.
That’s as city staff and some elected officials say it is prudent reaction to a changing power market, and full analysis will be laid out in the coming weeks.
Drew Barnes says city council hasn’t presented a cohesive utility plan to Hatters and doesn’t have the credibility to move on the purchase of the 1,600-acre Saamis Solar Park plan.
“This (local) government has found every reason it can to spend more money and not share the benefits of utility generation,” Barnes told the News on Thursday after releasing a statement.
“It looks like a knee jerk reaction to charge ahead and buy a solar farm.”
Barnes, who was the Wildrose and United Conservative MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat until 2023, has been supportive of the newly-formed Medicine Hat Utility Ratepayers Association, which also opposes the project.
It questioned why the sale is moving forward when an independent report on the city’s power business is due later this year. Its members also question the general economics or social value of renewable energy.
City officials said in a statement announcing a tentative agreement to purchase and build the 325-megawatt Saamis project as sound strategy to lower overall emissions at the city power complex, and meet net-zero regulations that are now being developed by Alberta and Ottawa.
A decision on building an initial 75-megawatt solar phase to the existing 299-megawatt gas-fired production network could come in late 2024.
For several years the city’s energy division has said it has watched rapidly changing regulatory discussion, and considered scalable options to address issues like market and technological changes.
On Thursday, energy division head Rochelle Pancoast told the News that residents will hear a full overview of those issues and the city’s potential responses at a council meeting in late September or early October.
“It’s short of a roadmap, because there is so much uncertainty (in the sector),” she said. “But this guides early actions, and it will define what our intent for clean energy will be.
“It highlights why we’re interested in renewable energy. We’ve signalled that we’re not intending to build (Saamis) it all at once because it’s too hefty a price tag and it’s too much (electricity) for our community to absorb.”
The city’s application to the Alberta Utilities Commission asks that solar power be considered an addition to the system not charged against a production limit on the size of the city’s power plant.
That would allow operation of a first phase to augment the existing gas-fired plants.
“We’ve invested in gas assets, they’ve served us well, and we’ll continue using them as long they are economic and meet regulatory requirements,” said Pancoast.
The city’s other MLA, Premier Danielle Smith, hasn’t commented on the Saamis project, but told local business leaders last spring that a well-managed, well-supplied power system is a major selling point for new industrial investment.
Her government has recently promoted the province as a destination for power-intensive industries, such as computing, artificial intelligence and even cryptocurrency.
City statements point to the potential to meet green energy requests from major existing and prospective customers.
Barnes said the city’s purchase of the solar facility negates a private business from operating in the city, that industrial attraction should include large power deals, and the Saamis plan would require too much money.
“We absolutely have to remain flexible or the province and the feds will carbon tax us,” he said. “If it ends up costing the city tens and tens of millions, it will be a net loss for Medicine Hat. We’re blessed to have an electric generation business, but we have to steward it well.”
The Saamis Solar Park would be built to generate up to 325 megawatts in peak conditions – though initial applications say an initial phase in 2027 would be rated at 75 megawatts – while the city is planning to maintain its gas assets. The remaining phase, representing 260 megawatts, would be commissioned when needed.
City estimates state the production from a 75-megawatt facility could reduce the city’s provincial carbon levy payments by $7.2 million per year in 2027.
