INNISFAIL – The Town of Innisfail's heralded $4 million solar farm project that was forecasted to generate up to $700,000 of annual new revenues into local coffers is off the table for an indeterminate length of time.
The project, which was launched in late 2023, has been considered a centrepiece in the new westside Southwest Industrial Park near Deep Sky’s new $50 carbon removal innovation and commercialization centre and Varme Energy’s proposed $175 million waste-to-energy plant.
Since last Dec. 9 town council has known there has been a significant drop in the current and forecasted pool price for the electricity generation market, which has created uncertainty with power pricing.
In the meantime, the town has already spent $149,119 to have the ambitious municipal solar project approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC).
On Jan. 27, town council unanimously approved another $15,000 at its regular meeting to finalize project approval with the AUC.
The money will come from the town’s General Capital Reserve.
Steven Kennedy, the town’s director of operations, told council on Jan. 27 the town has not yet fully addressed the new decommissioning requirements to the AUC, and it has until Feb. 28 to complete its application.
The town can only move forward with AUC approval knowing that a Fundamental Based Forecast report now predicts the expected rate of return for the solar project has changed from a six to seven-year projection to 18 to 20 years.
As well, the new proposed timeline for construction at the new Southwest Industrial Park, if it even becomes financially feasible, is now four to five years.
“This would then allow the approval to be in place until roughly 2030, giving us the opportunity to see how the project progresses, or if an additional extension is required after that,” Kennedy told council. “It provides us an opportunity to look at other partners within the province, or as they come forward.
“If an opportunity comes from an investor it does make the project attractable because it's approved by AUC,” he added.
Mayor Jean Barclay noted getting the project shovel-ready has been problematic for the past few years.
First, there was a seven-month provincial moratorium that began in August of 2023 on approvals for renewable energy projects, and then there is the still ongoing arduous AUC approval process.
“Things have changed since then, certainly a different power market than what it was, and a different market for selling carbon credits than it was,” said Barclay. “We're 95 per cent through the process, and if we don't proceed and we don't take it to AUC now to get approval, and we want to do that in the future, you're basically going back and starting all over again.
“The land that it's going on we can't do anything else with it. We can't build on it. We can't do anything with it,” added Barclay. “So, this was the only option to do with a five-acre site.”
Coun. Dale Dunham said he also approved the extra $15,000 expense to move forward with the project, noting that when the town first envisioned the direction of its Power of Place initiative and what the new industrial park was meant to be, the municipal solar farm was earmarked to be an integral component.
“I think this allows us to reach in directions for potential businesses to come down to town and this would be advantageous for them,” said Dunham. “Is it a guaranteed thing? But as we have seen nothing is a guaranteed thing, especially with this government we've got right now.
“So, if they move the goalposts again, they move it, and it's just a shame they have such a lukewarm reception to the renewable sector at this point in time.”
