The MD of Willow Creek has joined the Town of Fort Macleod in sending a joint letter to Neoen Energy expressing concerns about the Jumbo Solar Project.
They will also seek legal and technical representation in order to intervene with the Alberta Utilities Commission for the purpose of demonstrating their concerns.
The decision came at Willow Creek council’s July 24 meeting after a report explaining the Jumbo Solar storage project is being developed by Neoen Renewables Canada Inc.
The project began development in 2022 and includes about 1,500 acres located about 1.6 kilometres southwest of Fort Macleod, in the MD of Willow Creek.
The project is located within 8-26-4, on privately owned, cultivated land and will consist of up to 218 megawatts of solar capacity with a 71-megawatt/144-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system, charging from the solar facility.
Based on the preliminary design, the project includes about 405,000 solar photovoltaic modules installed on a single-axis tracking system, 45 inverter and transformer stations, an electrical collection system, internal access roads and the construction of a project substation to connect to the Alberta Interconnected Electric System.
There are 29 land owners within 800 metres of the project.
The project is planned to be constructed within the MD of Willow Creek and the Town of Fort Macleod intermunicipal development plan area negotiated and executed in April 2022.
Two meetings between the intermunicipal development plan committee and Neoen discussed concerns.
Although correspondence and information has been exchanged through this process the committee believes Neoen has not addressed the core of municipal concerns.
The committee has drafted a letter that will be sent to Neoen Energy by the municipal district and town councils noting they have unresolved concerns and issues with the project as proposed.
“During the meetings regarding your proposal to construct your project in close proximity to the Town of Fort Macleod, there appears to be several outstanding issues that have not been adequately mitigated and thus remain as significant issues for both municipalities,” the letter stated.
“These include but are not limited to land use as outlined in the intermunicipal development plan, transportation, impacts to the Fort Macleod airport, emergency response, fire response and potential environmental impacts from fire, soil erosion, vegetation management (agrivoltaics) and visual impact to the town and the region.”
“In conclusion, this development in this location will change the long-term plans for community development for both municipalities in the future. At this time, the responses to the existing concerns and issues raised by the MD of Willow Creek and the Town of Fort Macleod have not been sufficiently addressed and therefore, both municipalities continue to hold the position to not support the location of the proposed Jumbo Solar with Storage Project and will be participating in any proceedings before the Alberta Utilities Commission.”
Coun. Glen Alm observed that meeting with Neoen Energy has given them a “get out of jail free card.”
That’s because the Alberta Utilities Commission mandates municipalities be consulted by developers, and Neoen Energy has met twice with the municipal district and town.
Alm noted the developer does not have to tell the commission the results of those consultations.
“They haven’t given us answers,” Reeve Maryanne Sandberg said.
Alm later expressed concerns about the credibility of Neoen Energy. When asked if their storage batteries have ever started on fire, they answered they never have started on fire.
Alm said in Australia one of their batteries did start on fire.
Council agreed to send the letter to Neoen Energy opposing the proposed location of their solar project, and stating the intention of intervening with the Alberta Utilities Commission.
