Alberta softens rules around micro-generation

The new rules, announced yesterday, allow for more flexibility and a greater variety of configurations for micro-generation, including allowing one system to serve adjacent sites. The size limit has been increased to five megawatts from one.

“These changes will provide even more opportunity for Albertans to reduce their reliance on the grid and benefit from the choice to generate clean electricity. They provide more options and enable larger projects, and will contribute to our province’s target of 30 per cent renewable electricity by 2030,” Margaret McCuaig-Boyd, Alberta’s minister of energy, said in a news release.

Lisa Holmes, president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, said in the new release the amendments were the result of feedback. “The regulation modifications, including the expanded scale of projects up to five megawatts, provides municipalities with more options when implementing solar PV and other renewable energy projects,” Holmes said.

Micro-generation in the province has increased on average by approximately 70 per cent each year since 2009. Alberta has more than 1,700 micro-generation sites that generate over 16 megawatts of electricity.