Southern Alberta witnessing ‘unprecedented’ surge in renewable energy projects
Source: Taz Dhaliwal· GLOBAL NEWS · | November 17, 2020
The renewable energy sector in southern Alberta is riding high with projects surging like never before. Taz Dhaliwal finds out what's driving the boom.
The energy sector in southern Alberta looks very promising according to experts, especially with over $2 billion worth of renewable energy projects being built in the region.
SouthGrow Regional Initiative, an economic development organization based in Lethbridge, says this boom in renewables took flight about three years ago as the price of installations and equipment dropped low enough that incentive-free builds suddenly made more business sense.
“It really comes down to macro-economic forces, so back in 2017, that was the year in which renewable energy projects broke even with traditional oil and gas projects,” explained Peter Casurella, executive director with SouthGrow Regional Initiative.
“It became competitive from a business standpoint to build renewable energy projects without any incentives from government sources,” he added.
Casurella said there’s been an “unprecedented” number of proposed projects in the province as the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) has received applications for over 90 projects, with most of them located in the south.
Part of the driving force behind this boom is the looming global mandate to reduce carbon emissions.