River valley is wrong place for solar panels

Project should not move forward, Harvey Voogd says.

Epcor is proposing to install 45,000 solar panels in the southwest river valley adjacent to the E.L. Smith water treatment plant.

The construction of this major electrical utility will mean the removal of trees on the property to accommodate the solar panels and building a new fence to enclose the solar-generation complex.

The project is expected to generate 12 megawatts of electricity and will connect the solar panels to both the water-treatment plant and the electrical grid.

The impetus for the initiative is a requirement by the company’s shareholder to “convert approximately 10 per cent of its conventional power consumption to locally produced renewable sources.”

This shareholder is city council, which acts on behalf of Edmontonians as Epcor is 100-percent owned by the City of Edmonton.

Epcor is to be lauded for harnessing solar power. However, the proposal to do so on a large scale in the river valley is neither wise nor necessary.

In its business case, Epcor justifies the proposal as the most cost-effective option because of location, transmission cost savings, corporate benefit to develop its own renewable energy expertise and long-term value associated with having tangible assets.

But Epcor does not have to meet the shareholder’s Green Power Initiative goal through a renewable-energy electrical utility in the river valley.

The company has said that if it does not develop this green power supply, it will enter into a third-party contract to purchase green power at market price.

This scale of industrial activity in Edmonton’s river valley is a bad precedent. Can this utility be located elsewhere? The answer is yes. Is it essential for solar power to be generated in the river valley? The answer is no.

So why compromise the river valley’s natural beauty, ecological diversity and importance as a wildlife corridor?

As a public investment, Edmonton’s river valley becomes increasingly more valuable over time as our city changes and land becomes more costly.

Acres of natural, undeveloped land outside of the river valley are lost each year to residential, commercial and industrial expansion as our city grows.

Every encroachment on the river valley is justified from an economic point of view, but these losses add up to a deficit that can never be recovered.

We only have one river valley; the question is how are we going to preserve it and what uses will we permit?

As good an idea as it is for the world to embrace renewable energy, industrializing a piece of our ribbon of green for power generation directly contradicts city council’s commitment to preservation and conservation of our North Saskatchewan river valley.

This commitment is eloquently outlined in Bylaw 7188 whose first stated goal is “to ensure preservation of the natural character and environment of the North Saskatchewan river valley and its ravine system.”

The bylaw even notes the development pressure on the river valley due to public utility proposals and that these uses tend to be incompatible with the aims of nature preservation and parkland development.

The river valley is close to the hearts of Edmontonians, who value its natural beauty and the opportunity to enjoy it.

Epcor’s case for its solar facility states, “this project is about environmental responsibility.” The company is to be commended for wanting to produce solar power, but just because it is green power does not make this proposal environmentally appropriate.

In order to construct the solar facility, Epcor will require further approval from city council through a public hearing as 40.12 hectares, or 99 acres, of land will have to be rezoned.

Green energy should not be produced at the expense of Edmonton’s ribbon of green. This project should not be approved.

This scale of industrial activity in Edmonton’s river valley is a bad precedent.