Busy month for area renewable energy projects

Medicine Hat, AB – It’s been a busy month for renewable energy projects with regulatory approvals being granted for two area windfarms in addition to earlier movement on two others in Cypress County.

The Jenner Wind Power Project, located just outside Jenner in Special Area No. 2, received regulatory approval to amend the size of its initially proposed 36 turbines to 29 on Friday, according to an Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) decision. The 122-megawatt generation capacity would remain the same as the turbine size would be altered so as to allow capacity to go from three megawatts to 4.2.

The amendment didn’t come without opposition with several landholders in the area filing statements outlining how their holdings would be directly and adversely affected by the project. Those concerns included impacts on human, wildlife and livestock health, property values, visual impacts as well as increased fire risk.

In it’s ruling, the AUC stated those who filed objections do not have legal rights which would be directly or adversely affected by the decision to amend the project’s application.

The project approval will also see the project’s construction completion date changed to June 30, 2021 from the end of next year.

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In a similar approved amendment – without the same level of opposition as the Jenner project – Suncor’s Forty Mile Wind Project received approval to reduce the footprint of its 400 MW project from 96 turbines to 89.

The Forty Mile project was also granted a completion extension from January to December 2022.

Both moves come on the heels of Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s application for a 117 MW project in Cypress County announced last week as well as that municipality clearing the way for EDF Canada’s project in approving a rezoning application.