A proposal to build and connect wind and solar power to the McCain potato processing plant expansion in Coaldale has been rejected, as parcels containing wind turbines (blue squares) and a solar field (not shown) sit across a highway and railyard. Yellow denotes land owned or controlled by the food company.--Supplied image
@CollinGallant
Potato processor McCain will appeal a utility commission ruling that denied its plan to build and connect renewable power to its $600-million plant expansion at Coaldale.
The company informed the Alberta Utility Commission last week it will appeal the ruling that found the schematics for five turbines and a five-megawatt array on adjacent land comprised a “distribution network,” contrary to rules for transmission franchises in the area.
The company states the setup, to be built in partnership with Vancouver-based Elemental Energy, should be considered a local gathering system that supplies only itself, not any other customers directly.
A letter from McCain’s lawyers, Bennett Jones, to the AUC on July 3 states the denial has the effect of “undermining the $600 million of investment made in the McCain Coaldale processing plant expansion to date, harming their business interests and undermining the viability of the project.”
It adds uncertainty for others planning “self-supply arrangements. By departing from established industry norms and the Commission’s own precedents … (this) uncertainty risks discouraging investment and innovation in self-supply and export projects, which are critical to Alberta’s energy development goals.”
The Alberta Ministry of Utilities and Affordability told the News at the time of the initial ruling that it would not comment on process that would potentially head to appeal.
“Over the past year, Alberta’s government has made it easier for businesses to build on-site power generation, with the ability to sell excess power to the grid to help offset their utility costs,” a statement reads. “Companies are welcome to invest in their own generation to support their operations, provided they satisfy all regulatory requirements.”
Before 2023, industrial entities in Alberta were largely limited to build onsite power plants of co-generation units only to a size to supply its own internal demand.
Hoping to spur new power capacity while limiting transmission line upgrades, the province introduced a system to allow “unlimited self-supply” at specific projects with the ability to export excess power to the Alberta grid.
Opposing the initial McCain application, distribution companies Fortis and AltaLink argued in the physical setup of the network to connect the power plants constituted a distribution network since they crossed property boundaries, a provincial highway and a railway line.
The commission accepted the argument that self-supply facilities had typically only been allowed on the same or directly adjacent titled property.
