Renewable Energy Industry Facing Challenges In Alberta
LETHBRIDGE - Even though we have strong wind and sun resources, the renewable energy
industry is struggling to gain a lot of ground in Alberta.
Kris Hodgson,
who sits on the Alberta Clean Technology Alliance Board and the Canadian Wind
Energy Association Alberta Caucus, feels some of the problem is that the
province is lacking any kind of policy direction for renewable energy and
there's no clear ministry in charge of this sector.
Hodgson adds,
renewable energy is catching on where industry is doing it on it's own accord
and deregulation is a big factor in Alberta. He says, "That's a different market
and when you don't have a clear price and you can't have a feed-in tariff
promised for 20 years on what that price is going to be for either a wind
project or a solar investment project, that's a lot of uncertainty and when
you're fluctuating with the price of electricity in a deregulated market, that's
very risky, so developers have been shying away from those opportunities."
Hodgson does note that the Premier and the various ministries have sat down
with the Canadian Wind Energy Association to help find ways to make the province
more attractive to this kind of investment. An Alberta Wind Vision is expected
to be released later this year that will hopefully outline the plan moving
forward.
Some of the top minds in solar energy will be gathering in Lethbridge on Thursday night to
discuss opportunities and challenges facing the industry. It takes place at the tec-connect facility on the north-side at 6pm. Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 6/19/2013 4:14:09 PM
Source: Tristan Tuckett - Country 95 News
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