The new regulations and changes to existing regulations clarify the province’s “agriculture first” policy for renewable energy development, as well as reclamation requirements for project proponents.
The Government of Alberta has announced several regulatory changes that provide details as to how renewable energy projects will be sited, and how companies will be held accountable for reclamation costs. Combined, these announcements represent a significant step towards the development of a broad regulatory framework to ensure Alberta’s renewable energy industry grows strategically and in a way that maximizes benefit and minimizes risk for both industry, municipalities, landowners, and all Albertans. While RMA has yet to analyze the details of the regulatory changes, both a regulatory approach for protection of agricultural land and clear project reclamation requirements have been RMA advocacy priorities.
More details on each change are below:
Project Siting
Through the introduction of the Electric Energy Land Use and Visual Assessment Regulation, Alberta will implement an “agriculture first” approach to renewable energy siting that is intended to protect the province’s most productive agricultural land and require renewable project proponents to consider potential irrigability and co-existence of the project with agricultural production as part of their project application. The regulation will also impose restrictions or conditions on projects with impacts on Alberta’s pristine viewscapes.
RMA plans to review regulatory changes to determine if and to what extent the agriculture first approach will take into consideration variations in land quality on a regional basis.
Project Reclamation
Amendments to theActivities Designation Regulation and Conservation and Reclamation Regulation outline reclamation requirements for existing and new projects. The changes will introduce mandatory reclamation security requirements for all types of renewable projects.
RMA plans to review the amended regulations to determine how the reclamation amount is determined, when in the project lifecycle it is required, who holds the security, if and how the amount is reviewed during the project lifecycle, what happens to the security when project ownership changes, and other details.
Next Steps
In the coming weeks, RMA will review the regulatory changes and seek answers to outstanding questions or areas of concern. RMA will provide more details to members in the near future.
Warren Noga
Policy Advisor
825.319.2285
warren@RMAlberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@RMAlberta.com