A proposed layout of the Saamis Solar to accommodate a potential first, 75-megawatt phase of the 325-megawatt plan in northern Medicine Hat.--Image Supplied
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The chairman of the city’s energy committee says there is no rush to build portions of the Saamis Solar Park, but the controversial project gives them “a lot of flexibility” no matter how several substantial hurdles faced by the power business are settled.
Coun. Darren Hirsch told the News on Thursday that the project should be considered an asset which could be built by the city – to lower carbon footprint and production costs – or resold to a private-sector developer attached to a power supply contract on advantageous terms.
“We’re taking prudent steps and maintaining our flexibility – I think we’ve been very shrewd,” he told the News on Thursday, two days after the sale by DP Energy to the city was approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.
“We now have the option to develop it, or if we wanted to, we could sell it now to another developer with a power purchase agreement that we could negotiate. It gives us that flexibility into the future.”
The solar field, approved to be built on 1,600 acres of barren land north of Crescent Heights, has been proposed as a way to diversify the publicly owned energy business.
Critics claim it is unnecessary and a potentially costly endeavour, questioning the need considering uncertainty about the level of environmental standards at the federal level.
The city’s recent AUC sales application outlines a plan to build in stages to help the city’s 110-year-old power company meet peak demand and lower its overall carbon emissions in phases.
Administrators also said last fall that acquiring the project would give the city control of scaling the project to meet its needs for power, carbon offsets and in accordance with its fiscal capacity.
Considering the amount of land required to produce solar power, officials viewed the large, partially contaminated site owned by Viterra as one of the only large solar-appropriate sites inside city limits.
Allowing it to remain under private control, the city would be effectively “blocked” from developing a substantial solar plant in the future.
Top administrators also said that power purchase agreements, or carbon offset agreements that didn’t provide actual electricity for the city’s internal supply, made little financial sense.
Hirsch said Thursday that all options remain on the table and will be explored by the division.
But, he said, a decision on construction should come after council considers creating a “municipally controlled corporation” as suggested in a third-party business review last year.
“Ultimately this (sort of discussion) is the heart of the MCC discussion,” said Hirsch. “It really requires a huge amount of due diligence, and maybe more of a business mentality.
“I’m preaching flexibility.”
Last fall energy officials outlined that they are considering a half dozen variables in how to address a move toward “net-zero” carbon emissions in power production.
Those include economic outlook, environmental regulations, the potential of technological change and the city’s fiscal capacity, not only to fund projects but also to produce steady profits on which the budget relies.
City council approved $7 million for the purchase in April 2023, more than one year before developer DP Energy earned approval for the facility from the Alberta Utilities Commission in the early summer of 2024. The city and DP announced the conditional sale agreement last August.
It is designed to export power to the provincial grid, but city officials say they would use the power within the municipal franchise area.
Top division administrators told the News this week they are updating a business case developed last year for the project, but provided no timetable on when a decision on initial phases could go before council.
They will also redesign the site to proceed building the array, capable of producing 325 megawatts, in stages, and reroute power lines from connecting to the Alberta grid, to toward the city’s system instead.
