A rendered image of the Travers Solar project (Photo courtesy Greengate Power)

By Justin Goulet (Lethbridge News Now)

Vulcan

$500 million solar energy project coming to Vulcan

Aug 29, 2019 | 2:19 PM

VULCAN COUNTY, AB – Canada’s largest solar energy project is on its way to Vulcan County.

Greengate Power Corporation has received approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission to build and operate its Travers Solar project in accordance with the Alberta Hydro and Electric Act.

The $500 million project will feature a generating capacity of as much as 400 megawatts.

“It’s going to be the largest solar energy project in the country and one of the largest in the world,” said Dan Balaban, the President and CEO of Greengate.

“Just to put that into perspective, it will provide a clean source of power to more than 100,000 homes.”

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Balaban told LNN that the project’s been in the works for several years, but this isn’t the first time they’ve worked in Vulcan County.

“We’ve been working in Vulcan County for a number of years. We developed the largest wind energy project in the country, also in Vulcan County – a project called Blackspring Ridge. So, we’re following up the largest wind energy project in the country with what we hope will be the largest solar energy project in the country,” he said.

Balaban added that Vulcan County is a community that’s “open for business” and has excellent renewable energy resources, as well as a community that is “supportive of this sort of development”.

“We think it’s a great place for this sort of project.”

With such a significant project comes along many employment opportunities. Balaban said it will help create hundreds of jobs during the construction process and about a dozen jobs ongoing once the project is operational.

“It provides a great contribution to the local tax base – significant tax dollars into the County. It’s a project that’s a 500-million dollar investment and any time that sort of investment is made, there’s all sorts of spinoff economic benefits,” he told LNN.

In addition to the positive economic impact it will have on the region, Travers Solar will of course, bring along benefits to the environment.

“From an environmental perspective, I think this is the right project at the right time for Alberta. We’re living in a time of a lot of division in this country around the energy industry,” Balaban said.

“I think it’s important for Alberta to continue developing its oil and gas resources, but I think it’s also great that we can demonstrate that we can also develop renewable energy and that we truly are an energy province, and a global energy and environmental leader.”

The plan is to start construction in the first half of next year and have the project fully operational by the end of 2021.