Canada’s target of achieving a net zero grid by 2035 has been thrown into doubt as new rules are brought in that it is claimed will “throttle” the buildout of wind and solar farms in Alberta, which has until now dominated the country’s green growth.
Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith announced on Wednesday a raft of new restrictions on renewable energy projects, which she said had been growing too fast and with too few restrictions.
A member of the right-leaning United Conservative Party, Smith sparked uproar last year by enacting a shock seven-month pause on approving all renewables projects so authorities could consider how to incorporate them into the grid going forward.
The pause put 118 projects worth $24.3bn (C$33bn) of investment at risk, according to a report released by renewable energy think tank Pembina Institute, including 12.7GW solar, 5.3GW onshore wind, and 1.5GW storage.
This came in a province that had been undergoing a dramatic transformation from being known as the home of the oil sands projects, which are among the most carbon-intensive in the world, to accounting for 92% of Canada’s green growth last year.
But Smith told a news conference on Wednesday that the growth of renewables must happen in “well-defined and responsible ways. That wasn’t happening.”
“Renewables have a place in our energy mix, but the fact remains that they are intermittent and unreliable,” said Smith.
“They are not the silver bullet for Alberta's electricity needs and they are not the silver bullet of electricity affordability.”
Alberta needs to make sure it is not sacrificing its “tourism dollars” or vistas to “rush renewables developments through.”
From now, Smith announced that renewables developments will not be allowed within 35km of protected areas and “pristine viewscapes.”
If such a zone is applied to all parks and protected areas in Alberta that could mean that three quarters of the land will be off limit for wind farms, Jason Wang, senior analyst with the Pembina Institute’s electricity program, told Canada’s CBC.
Alberta will also no longer allow renewables projects on its best farmland unless developers can show how they can co-exist with crops or livestock.
And developers will have to post a bond or security to cover potential future costs decommissioning projects, an approach Smith said the province should have taken with oil and gas.
Smith has a history of hostility towards renewables and in November invoked Alberta’s Sovereignty Act to push back against a national goal set by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada achieving a net zero grid by 2035. Smith wants to hit that target in Alberta in 2050.
Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute, said that the new “sweeping rules and restrictions” on future renewables development “will throttle a booming industry, increase electricity rates and drive away investment.”
“While due diligence is always necessary in regulating energy development, the restrictions announced today are not proportionate to the risks and are at odds with regulations currently applied to other industries in Alberta.”
“The 35km ‘buffer zone’ appears to put a significant constraint on where new renewable energy projects can be located,” he said.
“This new rule will exclude new wind power development in many of the best locations around the province – including areas where wind projects already exist.”
He also said that the announcement “puts Alberta’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 in question.”
“By severely limiting its options to develop new renewable power, Alberta has chosen a much more difficult and costly path to reducing emissions from its electricity sector.”
