Grainswest - Tech 2024

Tech 2024 Grains West 32 operate between them. Renewable energy proponents frame agrivoltaics as a positive economic solution that allows farming and ranching to live in harmony with energy production. In Alberta, to offset all carbon emissions produced in the province with agrivoltaics would require 1.4 per cent of the province’s agricultural land. In most other provinces the number is less than one per cent. Countrywide, it’s estimated between one quarter to more than one third of Canada’s electrical energy could be generated on just one per cent of farmland through agrivoltaics. There’s so much interest in this tech, farmers and solar companies have recently formed Agrivoltaics Canada, an industry association. Solar panels, and renewable energy projects in general, were thrust into the limelight recently when the UCP government announced a pause on their development in August 2023. The moratorium was lifted Feb. 29, and new provisions and rules put in place to ensure farm production takes priority on arable land. One of the biggest changes is renewables are banned on class 1 and 2 lands unless the applicant can demonstrate that crops, livestock, or both, can co-exist alongside a renewable generation project. This is no problem according to renewable energy proponents. With the use of agrivoltaics, they say, everyone can have their cake and eat it, too. At the office of Solar Alberta, a non- profit group that serves community and industry, executive director Heather MacKenzie receives phone calls every day from farmers and investors who want to light up solar projects. Some request information to construct a basic system that will offset rising utility costs, while others want to connect with ambitious investors hungry for farmland to construct new projects. “Over time, we’ll probably see solar playing a larger and larger role just because of the cost being so low,” she said. “It is cheaper to develop a solar or wind power plant than it is to develop a natural gas power plant.” Despite such potential, these solar development inquiries often end in frustration, said MacKenzie, who noted farmers must jump through many regulatory hoops. She calls the government’s recent rule changes discriminatory and questionable. “That sent some pretty problematic messages to investors, and to landowners as well, who are suddenly questioning whether they have the right to their own land-use plans,” she said. One of the biggest issues at hand is buffer zones. The new legislation demands a buffer zone of 35 kilometres must be enacted to maintain pristine viewscapes. Of course, what may be an eyesore to one person may not bother another. MacKenzie said the arbitrary standard will only sow confusion, and that radius might as well be 350 kilometres, in her opinion. She correctly noted this will negatively impact other types of renewable development. In early May, TransAlta cancelled its 300-megawatt windfarm in Cardston County, which had been scheduled to come online in 2027. The energy giant also put an indefinite pause on three more builds—a wind farm, a battery storage facility and a gas development—with a combined output of 324 megawatts. The company said the pause is due to Alberta’s new rules around renewables and a fear of the unknown owing to a proposed shakeup of Alberta’s electricity market. “When you develop your electricity system, you want a very diverse system, you don’t want to rely on just one form of power. The more diversity there is, the more variability; that’s better for the system,” she said. MacKenzie loves the idea of co-locating ag and power as a nice middle ground in an increasingly charged dialogue. “I like how agrivoltaics takes us away from this “ I like how agrivoltaics takes us away from this ‘either-or’ conversation and allows us to work together.” – Heather MacKenzie FEATURE