Achi news desk-
The Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is calling on the Alberta government to halt a major solar project to be built in the Medicine Hat area.
The Aira Solar Project, which is being built by Calgary-based Horizon New Energy, is located about 35 km southwest of the Alberta city.
It received approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission on March 21st, with a number of conditions.
The Alberta Wilderness Association said the area is also an important international migration corridor for the pronghorn antelope, the world’s second fastest land mammal and an iconic species of Alberta’s grasslands.
The AWA said many populations of pronghorn rely on migration for survival, avoiding the heavy snow and harsh winters by moving south, returning north to graze in the spring.
In response to the approval of the project, the AWA said that although it supports the development of renewable energy, the 1,800 hectare project which includes over a million solar panels is one of many being built on Alberta’s grasslands.
The AWA is calling on the Alberta government to delay the development until a study of the cumulative effects of all solar and wind developments in the area can be completed.
“I believe this represents a systemic failure by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to protect pronghorn migratory habitat,” said AWA director Cliff Wallis. “Pronghorn are already suffering because of roads and fences, and other things that prevent them from moving easily through the landscape. Now we have 42 km of six foot high chain link fence topped with barbed wire that will be erected right in the middle of a known pronghorn migration route.”
“It’s a very limited environment for them out there and where this solar project is designed to go right on the edge of one of the largest blocks of native grassland left on the northern great plain,” he said.
“It’s great habitat for the pronghorn. They are moving through this area and around that site we have solar farms and wind farms that are already being planned or built or have already been approved.”
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Global News contacted Horizon New Energy for comment on the project, and this story will be updated when we receive it.
Conditions associated with project approval include camera monitoring of pronghorn behavior in the area, investigation of unfenced corridors around the project and regrowth of the area following construction.
However, the AWA claims that the mitigation measures are not enough to protect the international migration corridor and that there are no remedies attached to the approval if the project is found to affect the pronghorn.
“If the pronghorn aren’t even going to come near the project because they’re avoiding it, what are the cameras going to show?” said Wallis. “So we’re not even going to learn that much out of what they’ve proposed for mitigation, and what happens even if they find there’s some sort of obstacle here? What would you do with the project then, once it’s built?”
When asked by Global News about the AWA’s requirements, the office of Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf responded by saying that the Alberta Utilities Commission is an independent agency responsible for approving Alberta electricity generation projects, and that the Alberta government is not being able to weigh in on specific projects going through the AUC process.
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