• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark October 3, 2023
Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution October 2, 2023
Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback October 2, 2023
Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds October 2, 2023
UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit October 2, 2023
Next
Prev

New Solar Farm, Wind Technician Training Course Show Renewables Surging in Alberta

January 4, 2018
Reading time: 3 minutes

ENERGY.GOV/Wikimedia Commons

ENERGY.GOV/Wikimedia Commons

 

Year-end news coverage in Alberta pointed to an emerging surge in renewable energy development in the country’s most fossil-dependent province, with western Canada’s first utility-scale solar project going online and former oil and gas workers waxing enthusiastic about retraining as wind turbine technicians.

In Brooks, Alberta, a C$30-million, 30-hectare, 50,000-panel solar farm went into production in December, generating enough electricity to power 3,000 homes. The project developer, Vancouver-based Elemental Energy Inc., is taking pride in using a site that also houses an active oil pumpjack, a sour gas well, natural gas pipelines, an Internet fibre optic cable, and an agricultural irrigation ditch, CBC reports.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“This area is agriculture and oil and gas, but it’s really just resources,” and solar “is just another resource,” said Elemental’s Project Investments Director Graeme Millen. “It’s a fantastic showcase for diverse resource development on Alberta land.”

A CBC reporter visited the site on one of the shortest days of the year, after a few days of winter precipitation, when the panels were half covered in snow—but they were still delivering a limited amount of electricity.

“In the event it snows, you lose production, for sure. The good news is in this part of the world, in southeast Alberta, it doesn’t snow that much compared to a lot of other jurisdictions,” Millen noted. “The snow is light so it blows off with the winds we have, and because we get so many sunny days. Once the sun starts shining, the snow melts quite quickly.” 

While the Brooks project is setting records for now, CBC notes that Alberta and Saskatchewan expect to invest $50 billion in renewable energy development through 2030. But even with many larger projects in the works, “it’s pretty exciting for our community,” said Reeve Molly Douglass of the County of Newell. “The county has had a lot of linear taxation with oil and gas over the years, and it’s always good to diversify our income streams. That’s something we’ve talked about for a long time.”

The main surprise for locals, she added, was how quickly the project was built—in just seven months, though initial planning began five years ago.

At Lethbridge College, meanwhile, laid-off oil and gas technicians like Mark Kokas are enrolling in the region’s only one-year certificate program for one of North America’s fastest-growing job categories.

“Oil and gas used to be our bread and butter, but it isn’t anymore,” Kokas told The Canadian Press. “It’s been an eye-opener going into a different industry. There’s more than oil and gas. It’s pretty cool.”

“I’ve just seen how the world is going and how Alberta is changing from oilfields going to renewable energy,” agreed student Oscar Diaz-Kennedy, who previously worked in landscaping and construction. “I decided I wanted to be ahead of the loop a little bit.”

CP notes that the technician training course comes with an online caution, advising potential students not to apply if they’re afraid of heights.

“Most [courses] don’t have a warning label. We do,” said instructor Chris DeLisle. “Our students end up working in an office 300 feet in the air, so obviously safety is a big priority.”



in Canada, Ending Emissions, Jobs & Training, Oil & Gas, Solar, Sub-National Governments, Wind

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

jasonwoodhead23/flickr
Tar Sands / Oil Sands

REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark

October 3, 2023
147
Dawn Ellner/flickr
Carbon Levels & Measurement

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
62
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia
Finance & Investment

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
142

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

jasonwoodhead23/flickr

REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark

October 3, 2023
147
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
142
Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
359
YouTube

UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit

October 3, 2023
75
Solarimo/pixabay

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

October 2, 2023
261
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
880

Recent Posts

Dawn Ellner/flickr

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
62
Northvolt plant in Sweden, Spisen/wikimedia commons

Quebec Lands $7B Battery Gigafactory Investment from Sweden’s Northvolt

October 2, 2023
62
GFDL/Wikimedia Commons

Clean Energy Funding Isn’t Just About Money, Policy Expert Warns

October 2, 2023
39
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons

Climate Change Brings Rapid Ice Loss to Antarctica, Arctic, Swiss Glaciers

October 2, 2023
58
Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 28, 2023
221
DiscoverEganville/wikimedia commons

EV Rentals to Improve Transportation Access for Ontario Townships

September 28, 2023
82
Next Post
shannonpatrick17/flickr

Line 3, Keystone, Mackenzie Valley Gas: Big Pipelines Lose Ground as 2017 Winds Down

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}