Strathmore to be the home of a 40.5 megawatt solar farm

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Strathmore is becoming the home of Capital Power’s first solar project in Canada, which will boast 109,000 panels across a 320-acre area.

The 40.5 megawatt (MW) project, once complete, is designed to generate enough electricity to power more than 12,000 Alberta homes and offset around 46,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re farming sunlight in Alberta. It is the future of farming,” said Strathmore’s Manager of Planning and Development Services, Charles Procter.

He explained the town has been heavily involved in the project as far as getting the adequate municipal approvals established.

“We worked with them through that whole process and they were a great company to work for and my team really got along well with them,” said Procter. “To bring this change, to be a part of something this cool (has) been great. I never really thought I’d be working on something at this scale for my hometown.”

The average density of a residence is roughly 2.6 people per dwelling unit in Alberta. With the completed project supporting approximately 12,000 homes worth of power to the grid, that accounts for upwards of 31,000 Albertans.

Construction of the project began in April 2021 and the team expects commercial operations to begin in early 2022.

Steve Owens, senior vice president of construction and engineering for Capital Power, said the project represents roughly three years of planning that is finally coming to fruition. 

He added Strathmore was a perfect location for the project based on several factors.

“Southern Alberta has some of the best solar resources in Canada … we try to find somewhere that has high solar resources and of course, right next to Strathmore is a perfect spot,” said Owens. “We also look for somewhere that is close to transmission, so we don’t have to build long transmission lines and there’s actually a substation that we’ll be tying into right at the location where we are building.”

The panels themselves are bifacial panels, which means they collect light from both the sun as well as light that is reflected off the ground. Owens explained these panels generate roughly 25 per cent more power than a more standard unit. 

They will also be mounted on a single-axis tracking system, which will see the panels facing east in the morning and follow the sun across the sky throughout the day.

The panels are designed to last 12 to 15 years and are made mostly from recyclable materials. At the end of the operational life of the panels, the plan is to update and replace them with more modern units.

According to Procter, there was no investment from the Town of Strathmore in the project, save for leasing the land.

The project is completely operated by Capital Power, with an expected cost of between $50 and $55 million dollars, according to Owens.

Later in the project, an idea to bring in sheep onto the site in order to keep the grass short is currently being entertained. Procter added it would be a sustainable alternative to gas mowers and heavy equipment.

Owens added Capital Power will is looking to recruit more local people to work on the project and is hosting a job fair on Sept. 28. 

He estimates the team will peak around 140 workers on site, of which there were roughly 100 as of Sept. 13.