Medicine Hat, Alberta decided to drop a 325 MW solar project planned to be installed on contaminated lands down to 75 MW.
Contaminated land in a region with more sunny days than anywhere else in Canada makes it ripe for solar energy to flourish.
However, a 325 MW project, originally owned by developer DP Energy, will soon downgrade to 75 MW after the city, which hosts a large gas power industry, took ownership of the project.
The Saamis Solar Project will sit on approximately 1,600 acres (650 hectares) of contaminated land in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Residing close to Medicine Hat Complex, Canadas’s largest fertilizer plant, the land was damaged by a solid waste byproduct of nitrogen production, which will be capped with clay before the solar panels are installed.
DP Energy secured the development rights to the site in 2017 and obtained a development permit in 2021. The Alberta Utilities Commission AUC gave approval in 2024 for DP Energy to construct and operate the project.
The transfer of approval to Medicine Hat finalizes the acquisition and means the city has all the necessary planning and environmental approvals in place to begin building the project.
If built as originally planned, the full-size project’s 325 MW capacity would be able to meet the peak load demand for the city’s industrial and commercial facilities as well as its 65,000 residents, a city official said.
However, Medicine Hat is seeking an amendment to the approved 325 MW project to reflect the intended smaller size (75 MW) and related phasing, the city said.
While the 75 MW is planned as a construction phase, common projects of this size, the city does not intend to go through with project’s original size and refers to the Saamis Solar Project as a “75 MW project” rather than the first phase.
“The City will NOT be looking to build the full 325 MW (not anytime soon, or if at all),” Medicine Hat said in an FAQ. “Any subsequent phases would only occur if and when it makes sense for the City and our local needs.” The decision to fund and construct the project is made by the city’s councilors.
The downgraded project’s new owner has historically been known for its large gas fields, leading the city to be known as “The Gas City.”
The city’s decision to request control of the Saamis Solar Project after its previous attempts to become involved with the solar project failed, Medicine Hat city officials said. “When it became clear that would not be an option, the City took efforts to purchase the site to attain the option to develop clean energy now or anytime into the future.”
By bringing renewable energy to the city, the project diversifies the city’s current 299 MW gas-fired electric generation portfolio.
Canada’s provincial and federal regulations require that Medicine Hat transition to lower carbon solutions. However, the city said it “does not weigh in on the science behind clean energy,” and that it will “continue to advocate other levels of government for rules that support the ongoing economic reliance on our natural gas fired electric generation assets. They play a critical role in local energy reliability, now and into the future.”
With the project’s future in “The Gas City’s” hands, Medicine Hat said it “will only recommend proceeding IF our additional due diligence, supported by third party experts, provides sufficient confidence that any investment the City makes in the project would expect to see net proceeds from the project (and not net cost) over its lifecycle.”
The city said it expects the 75 MW project will cost between $110 million and $135 million.
The Saamis Solar Park was among the projects caught up in Alberta’s moratorium last year, which established zones banning new renewables projects on land deemed to have excellent or good irrigation potential, as well as setting up 35 km buffer zones around areas the government classified as having pristine views.
However, when the project was met with opposition last year arguing the land has high aesthetic value and is “a great area for higher end residential development,” DP Energy argued that it could be another 40 years before the contaminated land could be cleared for another use.
Discussion with the Medicine Hat Utility Ratepayers Association (MHURHA), a local political group organizing opposition to the project, may now be back on the table, MHURHA planning a meeting with the city next month. The group has reportedly sought out third-party evaluation of the projects merits, telling Medicine Hat News the “numbers don’t add up” and that the project will not “benefit the community or help [residents] make more money.”
