Renewables pose little threat to agriculture, environment: report

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EDMONTON — Alberta’s utilities regulator has launched a report saying the province’s booming renewables business poses little risk to its agriculture or the atmosphere.

“Assuming all renewable improvement locates on (a few of Alberta’s finest) land, the proportion of (such) agricultural land loss is estimated to be lower than one per cent by 2041,” says the Alberta Utilities Fee report, launched Wednesday.

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The fee takes the same view of considerations that photo voltaic and wind services may depart landowners and the general public with large payments for reclamation on the finish of their lives.

“In comparison with another types of industrial improvement, renewable energy plant initiatives have well-understood and comparatively contained reclamation dangers,” it says. “The dangers related to groundwater and off-site contamination are typically low.”

The report is the primary of two the United Conservative authorities requested the fee to supply as a part of its inquiry into the province’s booming photo voltaic and wind energy business. The discharge of the report comes shortly after the federal government eliminated its six-month moratorium on approvals for brand new renewables era.

The present report offers with agricultural and environmental impacts, in addition to funding for reclamation and results on what the federal government has known as “pristine viewscapes.”

It discovered that renewable energy is far much less of a risk to the province’s farmland than different types of vitality improvement and concrete unfold.

“From 2019 to 2021, the biggest driver of agricultural land loss was enlargement of pipelines and industrial websites,” it says. “Different key drivers . . . embrace city residential improvement, mines and wells, and roads.”

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The report stated the proliferation of wind and photo voltaic initiatives will seemingly be extra concentrated in some elements of the province than others.

The report notes that the overwhelming majority of wind and photo voltaic websites are situated on poorer land. It additionally factors out that wind farms use about 5 per cent of their lease space, leaving the remaining accessible for grazing or appropriate crops.

It requires extra analysis on combining agriculture and renewable vitality.

Present guidelines surrounding reclamation deemed adequate

The fee concludes that present guidelines are ample to make sure reclamation, though there may very well be extra readability across the level at which builders have to pony up reclamation surety.

“Present energy plant reclamation necessities are sufficiently outlined to make sure efficient reclamation, however no timing set off exists to provoke reclamation,” it says.

It notes there was broad disagreement about when that monetary backstop ought to be required, in what kind it ought to be offered and who ought to maintain it.

The fee stated there’s no consensus on what landscapes ought to be protected for his or her scenic worth.

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“It is extremely tough to outline pristine viewscape in a fashion that satisfies all stakeholders, and that doing so might not be fascinating as a result of the worth of a viewscape is subjective,” the report says. “There are circumstances the place a view that accommodates current improvement could also be of better worth to Albertans than a pristine view.”

The fee suggests these considerations may very well be dealt with on a case-by-case foundation through the software course of.

Martin Olszynski, a useful resource legislation professor on the College of Calgary, stated the report dismantles the federal government’s expressed considerations in regards to the booming development of renewable energy within the province.

“It’s an evidence- and reason-based wrecking ball that smashes the federal government’s speaking factors and insurance policies with respect to renewables,” he stated.

In February, because it lifted the moratorium on approvals, Premier Danielle Smith’s authorities introduced new restrictions on renewables improvement.

It stated it will rule out wind and photo voltaic on Alberta’s finest farmland. It will additionally impose a 35-kilometre buffer zone round protected areas and so-called “pristine viewscapes” — a transfer that some estimate would rule out improvement over about two-thirds of the province, particularly within the south, the place wind and solar are strongest.

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Others have estimated the restrictions would have an effect on 42 wind and photo voltaic initiatives representing about $11 billion in funding.

Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf was not instantly accessible for remark.

Olszynski stated the fee’s method is sensible. He stated the fee appears to be saying many of the instruments wanted to manage the business exist already. Issues may be handled as they come up, he stated.

“We may be nuanced and considerate about it,” he stated. “If you happen to impose blanket restrictions, as the federal government appears to need to do, then you possibly can’t be nuanced and considerate.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 13, 2024

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