A land map of the northeast corner of the planned Saamis Solar Park in Medicine Hat shows the proximity of three landowners applying to intervene in an application by the City of Medicine Hat to purchase and build the 1,600-acre project in phases.--Image Courtesy the Alberta Utilities Commission
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Private landowners near the Saamis Solar Park site are joining a regulatory challenge of the City of Medicine Hat’s bid to buy the project, but appear to argue the entire 1,600-acre facility wouldn’t be built fast enough.
Last month a group of concerned citizens registered with the Alberta Utilities Commission arguing it should not be built at all by the city’s power company.
On the same day and through the same Calgary law firm last month, members of the “Medicine Hat Land Developers” group applied to take part in an AUC hearing on the city’s current purchase application.
They argue the original permit hearing, led by DP Energy which developed the project, was obscured by the likely fact the city had already planned to buy the project.
As well, a new proposal to build in stages would effectively block off utility servicing to their land for much longer than if the project proceeded in full.
“This would change one of the fundamental bases on which the AUC approved the solar project (originally),” reads a submission from the law firm of McLennan Ross.
The group comprises local construction head Rick Wahl, real estate developer Gary Stimson and two other men with stakes in an estate parcel near the northeast-end project.
McLennan Ross also represents the Medicine Hat Utility Ratepayers Association, which has applied for standing with the AUC to argue the project is not economically viable and the city has not consulted stakeholders.
The city hasn’t officially responded to allegations but has said the project is worthwhile and more information would be made public following an AUC decision. Approval of a staged construction and the transfer itself form conditions of the purchase agreement with DP Energy that was announced in August, after DP won initial AUC approval of the project in July.
At that hearing, the developers group argued the scope of the 1,600-acre proposal should be halved in order to keep open routes for future utility services to their land, which they hope to eventually develop or sell as potential residential subdivisions.
But, without any expectation that could happen for decades, the AUC approved the full footprint.
Now, the City of Medicine Hat is applying to buy the project and build it in smaller stages, likely from west (furthest from the parcels) eastward. That could potentially add five to 10 years to a timeline of when the project might be dismantled and the land put to other uses.
City officials say the plan is to build the solar array in manageable phases, starting with roughly one quarter-sized array, as economic conditions and power plant operations require.
Once constructed, solar facilities have an expected operational lifespan of 25 to 30 years. A city-issued municipal development permit for the project issued to DP Energy refers to a 40-year-period for planning purposes, while landowners now say any delay in solar construction will equally delay their ability to service their land.
“The substantial impact to the development potential of MHLD Group lands … could not be raised or addressed during the (initial) approval process,” MHLD argues in its submission.
“Instead, the city waited behind the scenes while DP energy went through the approval process … and now asks the commission to allow it to step into the shoes of DP Energy.”
Before the AUC, DP Energy successfully argued against the concerns of environmentalists, an oil company and the developers that the land could not simultaneously be used for oil extraction, as a natural space and a housing development.
Since there was plan to build subdivisions currently or within a 30-year-time frame, the Saamis proposal should move ahead, the AUC decided.
The project was originally proposed by DP Energy to mainly cover a capped fertilizer tailings pond left over by the Westco plant north of Crescent Heights that is now owned by Viterra.
That received an initial development permit as renewable energy facilities are permitted use on land designated as “future urban” zones – a catchall for land with no set purpose or other zoning.
In 2020 however, the plan expanded from a 200-megawatt array to 325 MW, when, the AUC hearing heard, Viterra opened talks to lease more land in the area.
City council approved $7 million in reserve spending in April 2023, likely related to the purchase price of the solar farm plan.
