How land use issues factor into AUC reviews of renewable energy power plants

Below is a link to a “Briefing Note” I wrote, on how the Alberta Utilities Commission considers land use issues when deciding whether to approve renewable energy power plants. This Briefing Note is attached to the Pembina Institute’s recently filed submission in the Commission’s inquiry into the “ongoing economic, orderly and efficient development of electricity generation in Alberta.”  (Pembina’s full submission can be found here.)

The Government of Alberta directed the Commission to conduct this inquiry. (Order in Council 171/2023 (Aug. 2, 2023).) According to the Government, the inquiry is needed to address the rapid growth of renewables which, in the Government’s view, has raised “concerns from rural municipalities and landowners” and generated issues relating to “land use” and “electricity system reliability”.

The Government combined its call for the inquiry with an order directing the Commission to hold off issuing any new renewable energy power plant approvals until February 29, 2024. (Order in Council 108/2023 (Aug. 3, 2023).) Several of the many critiques of this renewables moratorium can be found here, here, and here.  

The inquiry’s terms of reference requires the Commission to consider five topics and to issue a report with “findings” or “observations” on these topics. (Order in Council 171/2023 (Aug. 2, 2023), Schedule – Terms of Reference, ss 1 and 3(a).)  My Briefing Note addresses three of the five topics, which I call the “land use issues.” These three topics involve “considerations” for power plant developments on:

·         “specific types or classes of agricultural and environmental land”

·        Alberta’s “pristine viewscapes”

·         Crown land  

The Commission is considering these three topics, as well as a fourth—implementing reclamation security requirements for power plants—in “Module A” of its inquiry. (Module B will cover the fifth topic, involving the “impact of the increasing growth of renewables” on “generation supply mix and electricity system reliability.”)

My Briefing Note provides an overview of the Commission’s current approach to addressing the land use issues in the inquiry. Understanding the status quo is a logical first step in considering whether new policies, legislation or other tools are needed to improve Alberta’s management of these land use issues. The Briefing Note is based primarily on my review of many approval decisions issued by the Commission in the last several years and on the legislative framework for the Commission’s approval decisions.  (This Briefing Note is a companion to a Briefing Note written by Ecojustice on reclamation security. Ecojustice’s Briefing Note is also attached to Pembina’s filed submission.)