Crews work to remediate the site of the city's solar thermal plant, (CHAT News)

By Alex McCuaig

Solar thermal

City solar thermal project demolished, scrapped

Oct 23, 2020 | 6:05 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – There was no shortage of fanfare during the opening of the Medicine Hat solar thermal project when it opened in 2014 but there was no brass band playing as crews demolished the project for scrap this week.

Originally envisioned as a way to test solar thermal technology in northern climes, the project was plagued with cost overruns which pushed the original price tag from $9 million split equally between the federal government, provincial carbon tax fund from large emitters and city to $13 million.

The extra costs were covered by the city and became too much of a cost to municipal coffers.

Attempts to sell the equipment were unsuccessful.

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But the city’s operating manager says the project was always meant to be a demonstration project to test solar thermal potential in the province.

And the project provided some valuable data.

“The concentrated solar thermal project provided a lot of information on the application of this type of solar thermal technology within Alberta and provided a lot of great information that informs future development of this technology within Alberta and abroad,” said Josh Gale.

Unlike most solar projects which convert sunlight to electricity, the solar thermal project used troughs to heat up an oil-based substance which was then piped into the city’s steam-powered electrical turbine.