A Calgary-based power generation company is looking at building a 21-megawatt natural gas-fuelled plant north of Blackfalds.
Lacombe County planning services director Dale Freitag told county council on Thursday they had been notified by Signalta of its intention to build a natural gas-fired power generation facility on a former oil lease site in the county just north of Blackfalds east of Hwy 2A.
Signalta says in an information package provided to nearby residents, the county and Town of Blackfalds that the plant will use clean technology to supply the province’s power grid to meet local electricity needs. While the facility is expected to produce about 21 megawatts the final output will depend on detailed design work.
The company plans to use high-efficiency engines to convert sweet natural gas supplied by ATCO Gas into on-demand electricity. It will be located next to an electrical substation to reduce transportation and distribution losses.
Locating the project on a former oil and gas lease “allows Signalta to minimize its environmental impact and disturbance in the local area,” says the company. At the end of the project’s life, the lease will be reclaimed and returned to grassland.
Signalta plans to undertake noise, air quality and environmental studies this spring and submit its application to regulators in the summer. If approved construction could begin in spring 2025 and be completed in the summer.
Lacombe County received notice of the project as part of the Alberta Utilities Commission’s requirement that utility developers undertake consultation before they apply to the AUC for approval. AUC and Alberta Environment and Protected Areas approval will be needed.
Lacombe County also has a role in the approval process, although the municipality cannot get in the way of provincial approvals.
“We don’t have any choice. We have to approve it,” said Freitag.
“Projects of this kind are new to Lacombe County, he said.
“This is the first time we’ve had a gas-powered generation facility on ag land.” The only other similar project was a co-generation plant approved many years ago on Nova Chemicals Joffre site, which is in a heavy industrial zone.
While it is the first project of its kind to come before the county, it may not be the last.
“We know (natural gas) is a real push by the province. I think we’re going to see more and more of them.”
Freitag said the county had not received any calls about the project from residents. Signalta notified residents within two kilometres of the site of its intentions.
County planning staff and Signalta representatives intend to meet soon to discuss the project.
Town of Blackfalds chief administrative officer Myron Thompson said the municipality had also been contacted by Signalta. Blackfalds planning staff are waiting to get more information on the project, which would be located within the town’s long-term growth area.
Premier Danielle Smith told members of rural municipalities at their annual spring conference on Wednesday that she saw natural gas as being a significant part of Alberta’s future.
“This is a natural gas basin. We are a natural gas province and we will continue to build natural gas power plants because that is what makes sense in Alberta,” said Danielle Smith in media reports from the Rural Municipalities of Alberta conference.