Alberta's squeeze on renewable energy has pushed investment to other provinces

Eight months after the Alberta government lifted its moratorium on the development of new, large wind and solar electricity projects, investment has yet to return as companies choose instead to invest in other provinces.

In Alberta, the wind and solar electricity sector has been weighed down not only by the lasting chill of the moratorium but by further unpredictability caused by the province's restructuring of its electricity system. 

"It's just like wave after wave of uncertainty and challenge in the market," said Sol Hutson, general manager of foundation solutions with the solar tracker company Nextracker, speaking onstage earlier this week at the Electricity Transformation Canada conference in Calgary. 

"When businesses are faced with those types of uncertainties, they pull back a little bit and they look for other places to invest."

Last year, there were about 1,000 megawatts of new wind farm projects announced in Alberta, compared to just 50 megawatts this year, says Jeff Fuchs, a senior vice-president with Vestas, a global wind turbine manufacturer that operates in all 10 provinces.

"There's just no market," said Fuchs, describing the lack of investment in Alberta following the moratorium.

Fuchs, with Vestas, points to Quebec as a province where construction of new wind farms is picking up. 

Earlier this year, the Crown corporation Hydro-Québec announced it would begin constructing and operating wind farms with a target of generating 10,000 megawatts by 2035. 

Elsewhere, the Crown utility B.C. Hydro has spent more than a year trying to attract new sources of clean electricity to keep pace with the soaring demand for power.

Ontario is in the midst of the largest procurement of new electricity in its history, which includes a pledge to use Crown land for renewable energy and building nearly 3,000 megawatts of new battery storage projects.

SaskPower has said it plans to add up to 3,000 megawatts of wind and solar to its grid by 2035.

Meanwhile, in Atlantic Canada, new federal legislation could kickstart the development of the offshore wind industry in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"There seems to be a more openness to get into battery storage and renewable projects," in other provinces, said Jeremy Thompson, president of Eagle Spirit Business Development.

There is so little investment in Alberta that it feels like the moratorium is still in place, says Thompson, who has built partnerships between renewable energy companies and First Nations, including equity ownership agreements.