Wind Power News: Alberta
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Turbine topples, as does company’s relationship with college
The designer of an experimental wind turbine located near Medicine Hat College says an operational decision to lock them from spinning led to one shearing off in high wind on Sunday night. As well, the working relationship between the college and company appears to have ended. One of the distinctive blue, helical turbines laid on its side on Monday morning, separated from its base, while another was being girded by a forklift. Joel Goldblatt, head of Bluenergy SolarWind, told the . . . Complete story »
Suncor suspends its wind project in Forty Mile due to COVID
Suncor’s Forty Mile Wind Power Project has suspended construction for the remainder of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Suncor released a revised 2020 corporate guidance for capital operating costs and production outlook on March 23, reflecting significant declines in crude oil prices and uncertainty surrounding the economic impact of COVID-19,” said Todd Andersen on behalf of Forty Mile Granlea Wind Limited Partnership. “As a part of the company’s revised capital expense budget, Suncor decided to suspend construction on phase . . . Complete story »
Looks like planned Whitla Wind Farm expansion will go ahead in 2021
Capital Power has ordered key equipment for its planned Whitla Wind Farm expansion – a key indication that work set to take place in 2021 near Bow Island will move ahead. The Edmonton-based company stated in its first-quarter financial report, released Monday, that it was performing well, though it expects power demand and therefore prices to be lower than were forecast in 2020. In a note on subsequent events, the company signed a 10-year contract extension with wind turbine maker . . . Complete story »
Suncor delays wind project as part of major scale-back of capital spending
A major wind power project near Bow Island could be delayed up to two years, Suncor announced as it issued revised guidance to investors on Monday. The major oilsands and energy producer slashed its forecast outlook in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic response and staggering low world oil prices touched off by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. “The simultaneous supply and demand shocks are having a significant impact on the global oil industry,” said Mark Little, . . . Complete story »
Proposed wind farm prompts concern from residents of Lomond, Alberta
A proposed 24,000-acre wind farm near Lomond, Alta., has some area residents worried about the future of their farmland. “I am just a concerned citizen from Lomond, [but] there are a group of us,” said Ron Magnusen, whose family has been farming in the area for at least 100 years. Magnusen said ABO Wind, the company in charge of the Buffalo Plains Wind Farm project, is compensating several landowners, including the Armada Hutterite Colony, to install towering wind turbines on . . . Complete story »
Wind farm generating anger, not power, in Lomond
A proposed new wind farm around Lomond is generating a lot of opposition from area residents. The plan would see 87, 183 metre high turbines placed in the area on five separate properties. To put it in perspective, 183 metres is 600 feet high, or 26 feet shorter than the Calgary Tower, which clocks in at 191 metres or 626 feet. The wind farm will be located on five privately owned pieces of land in the area, including a nearby . . . Complete story »
County council approves placement of electrical collection lines in right of way for proposed wind farm project
Justin Helland, one of the local residents who spoke against the project, expressed frustration at having to limit his comments to the application before council. At the beginning of the discussion, Reeve Jason Schneider had asked those sitting in the council chambers public gallery to limit their comments to the application, as five members of council who heard the application sit on the County’s Municipal Planning Commission, which will hear ABO’s application on the wind farm itself, and another council sits on a board that would hear any appeal of the MPC’s decision. Discussions on the wind farm itself could disqualify councillors from being involved in those decisions, Schneider warned. “I think everyone can agreed that the powerline is used to serve the project,” said Helland. “That’s a fact. So I don’t think it’s out of place to talk about the effects of the project.” The Lomond-area community is willing to fight “anything that enables the proposed wind farm,” he said. “And this powerline does that,” said Helland. Complete story »
Lomond, Alta. residents blown away by scope of proposed wind farm
LOMOND, ALTA. – A proposed wind project near the village of Lomond, set to begin construction by the end of the year, is raising concerns with some residents. “Our quality of life is definitely affected,” said resident Larry Helland. The project headed by German Energy Company ABO Wind and will be built on 24,000 acres of privately-owned farmland in the area north of the community. The company maintains there are plenty of benefits, including $3 million in property tax revenues, and . . . Complete story »
Energy regulator looking at proposed wind farm near Jenner
The provincial utility regulatory body is now considering the application to build a wind farm near Jenner that won a provincial grid supply contract in late 2018. Buffalo Atlee wind farm would consist of three clusters of three or four turbines located about five kilometres southeast of the hamlet, near the northwest corner of CFB Suffield. The 11 total turbines would produce 48 megawatts of power in peak conditions and put the power onto the Alberta grid via the Fortis . . . Complete story »
ABO Wind updates county council on proposed wind farm near Lomond
Representatives from ABO Wind updated Vulcan County council Dec. 18 about its proposed 400 megawatt (MW) wind farm near Lomond. Project managers Keaton Lever and Marika Gibson provided council with a project overview and status update of the Buffalo Plains Wind Farm, reads the minutes of the Dec. 18 County council meeting. An open house and stakeholder consultation have been completed, as well as an environmental assessment of the land, they told council. The company, which is based in Germany, . . . Complete story »
