Alberta stakes its claim as a solar energy power

ALBERTA FARM EXPRESS

Vulcan County will soon be home to the country’s largest solar farm — with the world’s largest online retailer buying most of the power from the 465-MW facility.

The Travers solar farm, to be built eight kilometres southwest of Lomond, will occupy 3,300 acres of cropland. It will be built by Greengate Power Corporation, a privately held Calgary company that has built several large wind and solar installations, including a 300-MW wind farm about 50 kilometres north of Lethbridge and a 150-MW wind farm east of Stettler.

The project is also more evidence of how big corporations are driving the move to renewable energy.

“Amazon is now the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world,” the company said in a release announcing its latest round of energy buys, with the Travers project being the largest.

The retailer now has 10 gigawatts of renewable electricity lined up from 85 “utility-scale” wind and solar projects around the world (along with 147 solar rooftops on facilities and stores).