What ever happened to Alberta’s massive airport solar project in Edmonton?

December 23, 2024 Canuck

Early in July 2020, Edmonton International Airport and European-based developer Alpin Sun announced one of the most ambitious solar projects in the province.

Set to be completed in 2022, the 253-hectare, 120-megawatt solar farm on what is now a canola field on the west side of the airport lands was touted as one of the largest at an airport anywhere in the world.

Fast forward to 2024, and that $169-million project is yet to come to fruition. So what has happened and when will the project come online?

Shining light on the project

Before we get into the details of the application, let’s look at what the project looks like.

At the time of the announcement, the airport gave some interesting numbers:

The solar farm will consist of about 340,000 solar panels.
The facility will produce enough electricity to power between 27,000 and 28,000 homes.
The area, 627 acres, will equal roughly 313 CFL football fields.
Construction will employ 120 workers for a year, with up to 250 workers at its peak.
The 120-megawatt facility will generate approximately 200,000 MWh per year.
Alpin Sun estimates that annual production of 200,000 MWh will result in an annual offset of an estimated 106,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Alpin Sun says the project will bring in $169 million in foreign investment to the Edmonton metro region.
Power generated by Airport City Solar will feed into Fortis Alberta and airport distribution systems.

Is there a start date?

Four years on from the joint announcement, the application for the project located on federal Crown land that is leased from Transport Canada by the Edmonton Regional Airport Authority, has been conditionally approved.

That officially happened back in March of this year after the Alberta Utilities Commission — the provincial body that regulates the utilities sector, natural gas and electricity markets — determined the project was in the public interest.

According to the decision, the project known as Airport City Solar is expected to be operational by Nov. 1, 2025.

In an email, Edmonton International Airport told CBC News that the actual start of construction is still yet to be determined, as Alpin Sun is currently working through the approval conditions in order to move forward with the project.

Alpin Sun could not be reached for comment.

What happened in the application process?

A close to 50-page report from the utilities commission details a complex appraisal process. To start off with, two constitutional issues came up in the application:

The project triggered a duty to consult with the Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community Association as the members say they are descendants of traditional landowners in the area and should be consulted. The commission found the proponent had satisfied that requirement.
Secondly, proponents argued that certain provincial legislation and provincial environmental laws should not apply to the project. The commission found that the project didn’t meet the threshold to prove that.

The project as it was first proposed would affect nearby waterways “to an unacceptable degree,” according to the decision.

The project will be required to amend the plans so that no permanent infrastructure is located within 30 metres of any small permanent watercourse.

The AUC also put 12 conditions in place for the project to go ahead. Here are some of the most significant ones:

The proponent has to provide an up-to-date glare assessment to Transport Canada, given the project is next to the airport.
It must also address any complaint or concern regarding glare, and has to document those concerns and their response for the first two years of the project.
It must reclaim the project to “equivalent land capability” when the project reaches the end of its life.
The solar panels cannot have a resting angle of more than 27 degrees during periods where the panels move to accommodate panel-on-panel shading.
All project infrastructure has to maintain a 10-metre distance from things like seasonal ponds and lakes.

In its conclusion, the AUC said the negative impacts associated with the project are outweighed by the benefits of the project, saying that the “application is in the public interest having regard to the social, economic, and other effects of the projects, including the effects on the environment.”

What was the renewable moratorium impact?

A seven-month moratorium on renewable energy projects was announced by the provincial government in August 2023.

Known as the Generation Approvals Pause Regulation, the moratorium delayed the in-service dates of 42 projects by an average of 15 months, according to the clean energy think-tank Pembina Institute.

The report released in August 2024, said that 53 wind and solar projects were abandoned after the United Conservative Party government paused approvals for seven months then failed to clarify new rules for those developments.

At the time, Alberta’s Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf labelled the report as “misinformation.”

“[The institute’s] latest report yet again puts ideology before common sense and intentionally misconstrues the facts,” Neudorf said in a statement at the time.

The moratorium was another reason for the delay in the project.

What about the new energy project rules?

The province also recently announced new rules for wind and solar energy projects.

The new regulations stem from Premier Danielle Smith’s announcement in February that Alberta was going to take an “agriculture first” approach toward renewable energy development, following that seven-month moratorium on project approvals in 2023.

Among the new regulations is a prohibition on wind projects within a 70,000-square-kilometre “buffer zone” that surrounds the Rocky Mountains and reaches to the western half of Calgary, according to a map published by the government.

The Ministry of Affordability and Utilities said in an email that these new rules are not retroactive so it will not impact this project.

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