2016 has been full of promising news for Canadian wind power developers. In July 2016, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna announced that Canada will have a national price on carbon before the end of the year. The federal government's announcement comes on the heels of those by the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia regarding climate change action plans at the provincial level. This is coupled with the recent publication of a report commissioned by the Canadian Wind Energy Association, which concludes that Canada could get up to 35 per cent of its energy from wind power while maintaining grid reliability.
In Alberta and Ontario in particular, competitive financial incentive programs supported by the provincial governments are expected to spur the development of wind and other renewable energy projects. These programs were discussed in our August 2016 Blakes Bulletin: September Deadline: Last Chance to Participate in Ontario's Large Renewable Procurement Program and in our June 2016 Whitepaper: Predictions for Alberta's Renewable Electricity Program.
Successful bidders in the aforementioned programs will be required to obtain the regulatory, environmental, municipal and ancillary approvals necessary to construct and operate their proposed renewable energy projects.
In Alberta, wind power proponents have sometimes encountered opposition to their projects on a range of issues, including potential noise, infrasound and environmental impacts, including effects on wetlands and wildlife. Even if successful in the face of such opposition in obtaining principal approval of their projects from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), wind power proponents are faced with a number of potential regulatory hurdles on the path to construction, operation and interconnection.
This article seeks to identify and provide insight into two such challenges that arise in the time between receiving regulatory approval and the commencement of construction: (1) responding to and incorporating technological developments and (2) the potential for intervening residential developments within a project area.
1. TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Wind turbine design and efficiency has dramatically evolved since Canada's first commercial wind power project was constructed in Pincher Creek, Alberta in 1993. The Cowley Ridge wind farm, decommissioned earlier in 2016, consisted of 57 375-kilowatt (kW) turbines, mounted on 24.5-metre lattice towers, and had a generation capacity of 16 megawatts (MW). Conversely, the AUC's most recent wind power plant approval was issued in respect of a project consisting of 50 2.4-MW turbines mounted on 91-metre towers, with a generation capacity of 120 MW. Proposals for projects utilizing turbines of three MW or more are increasingly common, with even larger capacity turbines being utilized in offshore projects.
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