Keeping renewable project information public

By Mickey Dumont Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With five large renewable projects in various stages of planning and approval, MD of Willow Creek administration is continually informing council and rural ratepayers on the status of these applications.
“It’s on the agenda for public information,” chief administrative officer Derrick Krizsan said, referring to the Oct. 9 municipal planning commission meeting.
“These are really large projects for our community. It’s important to keep people and council informed on the status of these applications. So, we included them on our agenda as discussion items, and in particular, some of the Alberta Utilities Commission’s (AUC) requests for information.”
“We wanted some council feedback on some of those requests for information, but we include that information as a matter of transparency,” Krizsan said.
On the MPC agenda under miscellaneous, three of the large renewable projects presently planned in the MD of Willow Creek, the AUC is requesting information from the municipality.
Clem Geo-Energy Corp. Radiant Dawn Energy Park Solar Project, SPWC Willow Ridge Wind and Neoen Jumbo Solar with Storage Project appeared on the agenda as information and discussion items for council.
Including these letters, notice of applications, various political and business decisions, etc., on the MPC agenda makes it public information.
It will be posted to the MD of Willow Creek’s Web site so the public can access that information.
“In order to access a lot of this information, a person would need to be registered with AUC and would have to actively go to (their) Web site, log in and download that information,” Krizsan said. “The average citizen doesn’t have access to that information, which is why we regularly include these significant projects on our agenda for information.”
The Radiant Dawn Energy Park agenda information includes an AUC notice of application, a project application, AUC draft power plan approval, detailed preliminary layout, project maps and an AUC notice of application.
After a brief discussion, MPC member Maryanne Sandberg made the motion to instruct administration to respond to the AUC’s questions.
The SPWC Willow Ridge Wind agenda items included an AUC letter regarding an update on next steps, a notice of applications after amendment, AUC information request to SPWC and an AUC e-mail to First Nations.
MPC chair Glen Alm made a motion to have administration respond to the AUC.
The Neoen Jumbo Solar with Storage project agenda items include an Oct. 2, 2024 AUC acknowledgment letter, an AUC proceeding application, maps and figures, an emergency response plan, public participation program, reclamation evaluation and an air quality dispersion modelling risk assessment.
Director of planning and development Cindy Chisholm informed the MPC, “There is no need to respond at this time about the AUC comments on Neoen.”
“In order to represent the municipal interests and the citizens’ and communities’ interests at these hearings, we are currently involved in preparing information that will be presented at the AUC hearing that represents some of our concerns with regards to the projects and information that we want the AUC to consider while they’re making decisions on these applications,” Krizsan said.
In particular, the MD of Willow Creek. has concerns about reclamation, concerns about soil erosion, concerns about weed and vegetation control and adherence to some of the provisions of its land-use by-law with respect to renewable energy.