In Case You Missed It: Alberta releases map for new renewable energy restrictions

January 21, 2025

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• Energy
• Solar Power
• Wind Power

In December, Alberta released its new renewable energy regulations, along with an updated map of the restricted areas. While not as extensive as we had feared, this regulation still imposes further unfair costs and restrictions on renewable energy generation, ignoring the far more destructive fossil fuel industry.  

Some key restrictions imposed by the new regulation include: 

• Agricultural productivity must be maintained. For all Class 1 and 2 lands, and Class 3 lands in certain municipalities, an “agricultural impact assessment” will be conducted, and “coexistence” must be demonstrated. 

• According to the regulation, coexistence “means the concurrent use of land for a wind power plant or solar power plant and agricultural production.” It does not state how much of the original agricultural productivity must remain for “coexistence.”   

• A report must be submitted after the power plant (wind or solar generator) starts operating to confirm “coexistence.” 

• Irrigability assessments can be “required by the Commission.” The conditions that could require an irrigability assessment are not provided.  

• Wind turbines cannot be built in a buffer zone. Turbines need to undergo a “visual impact assessment” in designated zones. These buffer zones and visual impact assessment zones cover roughly 36 percent of the province.  

In addition to these restrictions, renewable energy companies must pay a security or bond to restore land after the project is no longer in use. In contrast, oil and gas companies do not need to pay an upfront security; in 2024, Alberta officially had $96.3 billion in total oilsands liabilities (the cost to close and reclaim mines), and less than $1 billion in securities. That means that if all oilsands mines were to fail now, Alberta would be left with over $95 billion of cleanup costs – and this is likely a huge underestimate, with internal assessments as high as $260 billion in 2018.  

In September, AWA wrote to the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, expressing our concerns for the unfair application of restrictions to renewable energy, when fossil fuel extraction (including coal and oil and gas) was far more destructive and damaging to Alberta’s landscapes. The response we received entirely fails to address our concerns about the unfair treatment and the continued destruction of fossil fuels.  

Once again, government actions show its concern is not with protecting agricultural or environmental lands by targeting renewable energy and failing to extend these restrictions to the more harmful fossil fuel industry.