Can Alberta become Canada’s leading green energy powerhouse? If so, how?
Alberta is quite a gifted province. With the third-largest supply of oil in the world, the economy rode a wave of high demand. Nowadays, Albertans worry about the fate of its economy as the world shies away from non-renewable energy in an effort to combat climate change. However, this fear is misplaced as even in a green energy market, Alberta still has enough resources to be Canada’s #1 powerhouse. Not only that, but our open energy market still allows the sector to flourish.
The good oil days
In 1715, Cree chief, Captain Swan made the first reference we know of to what would become known as the Athabasca oil sands. Nearly three centuries later, thanks to rapid industrialization driving demand, Alberta’s reserves would profit from the ‘70s oil rush, transforming the province from rural religious communities to an expanding metropolis that produced some of the highest numbers of multimillionaires in the world.
Unfortunately, the good times ended shortly thereafter in 1986 when conflicts on the other side of the world tanked prices. This, coupled with increased consciousness about the effects of oil and gas on the environment, meant that Alberta’s economy plunged into a recession.
Today, with environmental concerns reaching a near fever-pitch, Albertans fear for their economic security in a world with diminishing oil demand. But Alberta is also bountiful with renewable solar and wind energy that could be harnessed to power our homes.
Alberta’s green energy potential
As recently reported by the CBC, Rystad forecasts that as soon as 2025, Alberta can overtake Ontario and produce 83% of wind and solar generation in Canada. According to CanWEA, Alberta is Canada’s 3rd largest wind market, behind Quebec and Ontario and should be poised to develop and bring with it a wave of investment capital. As we know, Alberta’s energy market is deregulated. This enabled corporations to sign with windfarms allowing them to secure the funding to develop. Thanks to this, and technological improvements to wind turbines, allow our wind energy to have a competitive, affordable price.
Regarding solar energy, Solar Alberta states that we’ve currently already installed enough solar panels to generate 60MW across the province and prevent 40 kilotons from entering the atmosphere. And that’s only going to expand thanks to initiatives like the ones the Provincial Government is taking to use 55% solar power for its facilities, as we’ve previously written. In addition to this, micro-generation sites have been flourishing, with the aid of municipalities freeing up restrictions on residential solar panels.
As seen in the renewable energy statistics collated by Green Alberta Energy, in 2020 nearly 6,000 units to harness solar energy in Alberta were installed compared to just 122 in 2010. As the sector grows, so do the savings and so does our position as Canada’s leader in energy.
Take advantage of Green energy
So far, the government has secured 1,360 out of its 5000 MW renewable-energy goal. The future is green, and you’ll want to implement it for your business or home as soon as possible to ease the transition. However, we get that all this can be confusing and that’s why we have prepared two in-depth guides on how you can switch to a greener energy plan in Canada. Check below:
