By Alex McCuaig

Brooks Solar

Hearings on Brooks solar project set to begin on Tuesday

Dec 2, 2019 | 4:54 PM

Brooks, AB – Proponents of the Brooks Solar facility want to triple the capacity of the project but they’ll need to get through a four-day public hearing set to begin on Tuesday first.

Elemental Energy’s 17 MW Brooks Solar 1 came online in 2017, producing enough power annually to power an estimated 3,000 homes.

This week’s hearings will be focused on Brooks Solar 2 which will expand the initial project by 26.5 MW.

Opponents of the project say the privately-funded facility will have a negative effect on area property values as well as fears the glare from the panels may have adverse effects.

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But for one resident who lives in middle of the energy project, it’s not much different than the gas wells and pump jacks that dot the area along the Trans-Canada Highway.

“It does take lots of room spacewise but I don’t know, with a well, they fence it out and it takes lots of room too,” said Karen Lemieux while holding her son Hunter. “Give it a chance.”

Public hearings by the Alberta Utility Commission will take place at the Heritage Inn in Brooks starting at 10 a.m.