As Alberta sees renewable energy boom, rural municipalities call for bond to cover disposal costs

Source: Emma Graney| · THE GLOBE AND MAIL · | January 1, 2023

Rural municipalities in Alberta say companies that build renewable power projects in the province should be subject to a bond that will cover the cost of disposing of solar panels and wind turbines when they reach the end of their lives to ensure taxpayers and landowners aren’t left footing the bill.

Alberta leads Canada in the sheer number of renewable power projects being built, bringing jobs and a flood of new revenues for rural municipalities in the form of taxes. But the development is also causing consternation.

Energy projects have stung rural communities before. Orphaned oil and gas wells litter the province, left behind by bankrupt operators or run partially dry then sold to small companies that can’t – or won’t – pay to plug and mitigate them. And municipal councils and landowners don’t want to be stuck with a similar problem when it comes to solar and wind assets.

In some regions, such as Foothills County, south of Calgary, oil and gas infrastructure left over from the first oil boom – a century ago, when reclamation rules were non-existent – continues to cause problems.

“We haven’t learned from that lesson, so it’s frustrating for me as we keep repeating this,” Foothills Reeve Delilah Miller told The Globe and Mail in a recent interview, stressing the need for more robust rules for renewable projects as well.

Ms. Miller’s municipality was one of two that sponsored a resolution at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) fall convention, since passed, urging the province to learn from its mistakes with fossil fuels and deal with the end-of-life issue for renewables before it’s too late.