Construction crews have started preparing two expanses of Prairie land in the County of Forty Mile, near Medicine Hat, Alta., for a massive solar project that will produce enough electricity to power up to 6,400 homes.
The venture, known as the Yellow Lake and Burdett solar project, is being built on privately-owned land southwest of the town. It is expected to be completed in April and will provide 39 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
At the Yellow Lake site, crews are completing fencing and civil works while at the Burdett site they are installing piles and doing trenching work.
“This project will involve the installation of pile foundations, solar photovoltaic panels, panel racking systems, internal access roads, cabling, electrical inverters and other related electrical equipment,” explains Chelsie Dundas, project manager with BluEarth Renewables Inc., which is building the solar project.
In total, more than 16,700 piles and 145,000 modules will be installed at the sites. Installation of racking is expected to begin in November and December followed by the install of panels in December and January.
When building a solar farm, Dundas says the project starts with civil works, followed by the pile foundations and panel racking systems. The modules are then installed on the panel racking.
“While the pile foundations and racking are installed, we are also installing cabling in trenches, installing inverters and other electrical equipment, and connections are completed,” explains Dundas.
The team at BluEarth has been working on developing the project for five years and consulted extensively with government agencies and key stakeholders before putting shovels in the ground.
“This project is a great example of how our team can execute through the full lifecycle of projects, turning conceptual ideas into reality,” says Dundas. “As an Alberta-based company, we are looking forward to once again participating in the build out of renewables in our home province.”
While the Yellow Lake and Burdett projects became reality as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the situation did not slow down work on the project.
“While our team is working with increased protocols to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved during construction, we do not anticipate any changes to the planned construction and operation as a result of COVID-19,” says Dundas.
In July, the company signed power purchase agreements with Bullfrog Power and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) which made the build possible. PCL Construction Management Inc. is in charge of the construction work.
“Power purchase agreements like the ones Bullfrog Power and RBC have signed with BluEarth are the most effective way to expand renewable energy in Canada,” says Bullfrog Power president Sean Drygas. “We’re excited to secure a predictable, economic supply of renewable energy attributes from the Burdett and Yellow Lake Solar Project.”
RBC, meanwhile, has appointed Renewables Consulting Group (RCG), a specialized expert services firm that supports the global renewable energy sector, as its independent engineer on the projects. The firm is providing technical due diligence services.
“We are delighted to be working on this mandate and proud to support renewable energy development in Alberta,” says RCG director Matthew Irvine. “Alberta’s solar market is blossoming and it is fantastic to see the debt financing market active again after a challenging few years across Canada. Through our pragmatic approach to technical advisory, we will play a small part in bringing this generation capacity to the market.”
The project will create more than 300 jobs during construction and result in an injection of more than $70 million of capital investment in the economy. The construction jobs include land surveying, road construction, set-up of electrical and communication networks, excavation, concrete and aggregates supply and installation, foundations, construction of electrical connections and associated infrastructure.
Dundas says the project will contribute significant and stable long-term property tax revenue to the local economy.
Although southern Alberta is the sunniest area in Canada, BluEarth considered several other factors in identifying the location for the project.
“Importantly, locations must align strategically with our existing and planned portfolio in size and geography,” says Dundas. “As well, we consider specific factors such as resource, land use, environmental considerations and willing landowners.
“This project was a great fit with our expanding footprint in southern Alberta. Combined with our acquisition of the Suffield Solar Project in southeast Alberta, our total solar capacity is now at 187 MW and we believe more opportunities are on the horizon given the favourable market conditions for renewable energy investment in Alberta.”
In September, BluEarth purchased the Suffield Solar Project from Canadian Solar Inc. The project, currently under construction in southeast Alberta, will have a capacity of 23 to 32 MW and will be among the largest solar photovoltaic facilities in Alberta.
Alberta is on the cusp of leading Canada in solar and wind power. A new analysis by Rystad Energy, indicates that 83 per cent of the country’s new solar and wind installations over the next five years will be in Alberta.
A number of multi-million-dollar solar projects are planned for Alberta in the next few years. Alpin Sun announced it is working on an agreement with Edmonton International Airport to build a 627-acre, 120 MW solar farm, bigger than 300 CFL football fields, on a canola field on the west side of the airport lands.
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