By Alex McCuaig

Solar project

County to consider development of solar facility near Empress

Nov 2, 2019 | 4:54 PM

Cypress County, AB – Cypress County will have another proposed renewable energy project in front of them at its Municipal Planning Commission meeting Wednesday with a 39-megawatt proposed solar facility seeking to have a development application approved.

The project comes on the heels of the U.K.-based Aura Power’s regulatory approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) last month and a decision by the county council to rezone land near Irvine for a 48-turbine wind facility.

Aura’s Empress Solar Power Plant would be located 27 km south of Empress covering approximately 250 acres of land with nearly 150,000 panels fixed on a tilting rack. The project would also include a battery storage component as well. The land it would be located on is privately owned.

The county’s development office is recommending approval of the building permit on conditions that Aura comply with all federal, provincial and county regulations.

According to the AUC decision, the company will also be required to mitigate disturbance to a nearby kangaroo rat population, a designated species at risk, located in the vicinity of the proposed solar facility.

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The project has an in-service date of July 1, 2021.

Aura Power is proposing to build solar projects which can generate an estimated 430 MW of electricity across southern Alberta.

The company also has ten Alberta projects in development including two near Burdett and one outside of Taber.