St. Albert city council may postpone its solar-farm decision previously scheduled for a special July 13 council meeting.
In its upcoming June 20 meeting, council will be presented with a request from administration for more time to prepare proposals for the future use of the city-owned Badger Lands —a parcel off Villeneuve Road in northwest St. Albert — including three potential solar-farm models.
In an email June 8, city spokesperson Cory Sinclair said if the request is approved, the July 13 special council meeting — where the solar farm was set to be the only item on the agenda — will be deferred to a later date, most likely for the fall.
The exact date has not yet been finalized, Sinclair said.
Council voted in February to have city administration complete the detailed design of a hybrid commercial and municipal own-use generation (MOUG) solar farm. This energy generator would supply power to the commercial grid and help offset consumption at the city’s own facilities.
While detailed design centres around the hybrid project, council will hear other solar-farm options, including a strictly commercial solar farm, or purely MOUG version. Additionally, city administration will come forward with a suite of other options for the land that don’t include a solar farm: commercial, residential, and industrial development.
Council will also be presented with a remediation study outlining what it would cost to decontaminate the Badger Lands, which were formerly used as a snow dump.
Sinclair said the specific aspects of the proposals requiring more time are the detailed design and financial analysis of the hybrid solar-farm model.
“Due to the significant nature of this project, we want to ensure we are doing our due diligence and being as thorough as possible,” Sinclair said in an email.
Coun. Ken MacKay spoke to the importance of “lining up reports” to ensure council has all the information they need to make an informed decision.
“It’s about making sure information is correct and accurate,” MacKay said of the request for more time.
Similarly, Coun. Sheena Hughes said, “due diligence takes time.”
“If it means two more months to put it all together, I can accept that,” Hughes said. “When we’re talking about $30 million of taxpayer’s investment, we need to be confident about what our decisions are.”
Previous estimates placed the cost of the city’s solar-farm project at $26.1 million.
Last summer, council approved the first reading of a borrowing bylaw that would allow St. Albert to borrow up to $33.75 million over 20 years for the project, factoring in a 25-per-cent contingency.
Council later postponed final approval of the bylaw in August 2021 after hearing concerns from the public about the financial details of the solar farm, in addition to questions about remediation cost for the lands, and potential alternate uses.
A report to council outlining administration’s request to postpone the decision will be released on the city’s website Friday at 3 p.m. as part of the June 20 council agenda package.
