GrainsWest Spring 2021

Spring 2021 grainswest.com 39 The RenuWell pilot project seeks to prove the economic case for the installation of solar farms on remediated oil and gas well sites similar to this one in the Municipal District of Taber. Photo: Courtesy of the Municipal District of Taber. The initiative includes many stakeholder groups that represent a diverse alliance of interests. Alberta’s Municipal Climate Change Action Centre and irrigation canal power co-operative IRRICAN fund the pilot project. And all of this has been made possible by RenuWell’s partnership with the Municipal District of Taber. Renewable energy company Canadian Solar is the developer, while installation will be handled by SkyFire Energy, a solar energy systems business. Irrigation farmers have seen their transmission distribution costs more than triple in the past 10 years, said Hirsche. IRRICAN Power, whose members include the St. Mary, Raymond and Taber irrigation districts, saw the potential to increase their power capacity through this partnership with Renuwell, said Hirsche. “We can save money on electricity and distribution for the irrigation farmers.” A central concern in discussions about the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is the assurance oil and gas workers can participate. Project members Medicine Hat College and Iron & Earth, a not-for-profit employment transition organization, have in turn partnered to train 15 workers in career skills necessary to carry out work on the project. “Our mission is to support the fossil fuel industry and Indigenous workers to lead and build the net-zero emissions economy,” said Adam Lynes- Ford, Iron and Earth director of innovation and energy policy. “We support those workers to expand into climate careers.” STAR POWER ASSISTS EARTHLY PROBLEMSOLVING The RenuWell Project bills its model as one of the keys to Alberta’s rapid transition to clean energy production, while also addressing the province’s oil and gas well remediation problem. “We came to the conclusion there was a real opportunity for former oil and gas sites,” said Ryan Tourigny, Solar’s national director of business development, which acts as a developer for the initiative. Landowners with defunct oil and gas sites are familiar with the type of lease arrangement RenuWell is proposing and Tourigny believes they will appreciate the work RenuWell is putting in. Using a site’s existing infrastructure saves money that would otherwise go toward removal work and site reclamation. In addition, this method allows reclamation and installation crews to augment their existing expertise with new skills in renewable energy installation. “Crews can come into sites, cut and cap existing wells, then go on to install solar panels as well,” said Tourigny. The AER faces a staggering $30.1 billion price tag for the burden of inactive oil and gas well remediation. The RenuWell Project partners are quick to point out they are only part of the solution. “We’re only going to be able to address maybe 10 per cent of the [defunct well sites] out here, that are suitable for it,” said Hirsche. “The targets for us, are those with the least valuable agricultural land.” The lots in question have to be easily accessible and, of course, receive good amounts of sunlight. Converting even a fraction of the province’s 91,000 inactive oil and gas sites into revenue and electricity-producing solar installations would meet Alberta’s 2030 renewable energy generation goals.