TransAlta has cancelled a proposed wind farm in southern Alberta and put three other developments on hold
Cardstone County in southern Alberta has long depended on agriculture and tourism for revenue, but wind energy is an emerging economic influence. So news that Trans Alta is now canceling a large wind power project that was planned here comes as a devastating blow. They would have contributed millions and millions of dollars to the coffers of Karsten County, and so that’s now no longer on the table. That’s now lost. The CEO of Transalta says the Ripplinger project has been impacted by the new provincial restrictions on development near protected areas. And pristine viewscapes. The Reeve of Carson County says there was some opposition to the wind farm from those not wanting to look at windmills. Randy Bullock says the provincial government has played a role in taking away some of their ability to be self reliant. We don’t want to continue to be, you know, a municipality with our handout always asking for a grant or a financial contribution. We want to be able to do stuff on our own. Economist Moshe Lander says The Alberta government needs to be welcoming more sources of energy. When Alberta is talking about electricity overload and we were talking about blackouts, that type of thing can become a more regular occurrence when you’re not finding a way to onboard electricity and energy from wherever it comes from. Trans Alta has also put three other developments on hold as the government goes through a redesign of the province’s electricity market, Transalta CEO says they’re paused until the company gets sufficient clarity. There’s still tremendous uncertainty in the Alberta electricity space. Because actually there the sector’s still waiting for the governments to come out with final details for all of the restrictions that they announced, that this is still, you know, in effect maintaining this soft moratorium for the renewable energy sector in Alberta. The province says Alberta continues to attract new projects with over 3000 megawatts of wind projects under construction and that Alberta’s changing energy landscape requires long term solutions and market restructuring to provide reliability and affordability. Carolyn Curry de Castillo, Global News.