An often-overlooked part of Bill 50 is the potential for wind energy and cogeneration to meaningfully contribute to Alberta’s power grid with the new critical transmission infrastructure. There is massive cogeneration potential in Fort McMurray and the Heartland. Wind power in southern Alberta is also at a standstill while the transmission infrastructure catches up to all of the proposed projects.
Dan Balaban of Greengate Power is a cautious supporter of Bill 50. His company decided that it didn’t want to wait for transmission to get built to their potential sites so it sited their wind farms in areas that already have access to existing transmission infrastructure.
“Saying I’m a fan of Bill 50 might be a bit too strong. I’m supportive of the initiative to streamline the regulatory process,” says Balaban.
Renewable power generation, indeed any power generation project, will have to deal with AESO, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) and the public to bring its product to market. By cutting out the AUC and the public on critical transmission infrastructure, power generation companies like Greengate, Epcor and TransAlta face less uncertainty when trying to raise capital for large, capital-intensive projects.
However Bill 50 won’t be the legislation that ushers in a clean energy boom like the one going on around the world in Ontario, Germany and Texas.
“The state of Texas has a deregulated power market just like Alberta. They implemented a renewable portfolio standard and Texas is the leading jurisdiction in the U.S. for renewable power.”
A renewable portfolio standard is a promise by a government to increase the production of energy from renewable sources. Utilities are required to obtain and produce new renewable energy capacity based on their market share. The Texas RPS met its 10-year goal in six years and they’ve set new and more ambitious goals since.
Balaban argues that a portfolio standard combined with Bill 50 could spark massive investment in Alberta’s clean energy sector.
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