Kent Fellows is a professor at the University of Calgary, director of the master of public policy program at the university’s School of Public Policy and fellow-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute.
established a competitive and open market with a goal of attracting private investment in generation capacity to deliver low-cost electricity to Alberta consumers. – is exactly what the free market does not like because it introduces a signal of regulatory risk and uncertainty. It creates a complete, if temporary, barrier to entry for a specific type of investment, and it will cost investors money .
The reclamation cost issue is critical and deserving of attention. But it seems inconsistent to announce a pause on renewables to resolve this while simultaneously continuing to approve new conventional oil and gas infrastructure, which carries the same reclamation issues, only more pronounced.