OLDS — Lack of new sources of power has been a frustration when trying to boost economic development in Olds, according to Larry Wright, the town’s strategy and technology officer.
Wright made that point in a presentation to council’s March 1 policies and priorities meeting
He said he was told the cost to add another energy substation could be as high as $70 million and it could take three years just to get through the approval process for one.
Wright said they were also told that it would probably cost between $20 million and $25 million just to run additional power supply lines from outside the town and into the county.
“It really stymied us on the capacity when we were going through biomedical marijuana and the canola project growth,” Wright said.
“With areas like Sundial, OSG and others in that zone, they were really, really stymied for large supply support.”
Wright said some additional power was brought in from the existing Olds 55-S substation and a diesel generation system was hooked up during construction of facilities like the Sundial Growers plant.
He said regularly meetings were held three or four times a year with energy suppliers such as FortisAlberta, AltaLink and others to discuss the situation.
“(We) really need to look at that energy supply to support the MDP (Municipal Development Plan), the IDP (Intermunicipal Development Plan) and our future economic growth and we need to continue and get on with that with all of our resources available,” he said.
