STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOSWINNIPEG, Manitoba - Alberta's seven-month pause on approving new renewable power projects in the Canadian province has caused four major international companies at various development stages to stop work on their plans, an industry official said.
Alberta, the country's main oil and gas producing province, paused approvals on Aug. 3 of new renewable electricity generation projects over one megawatt until Feb. 29, chilling investment in the fast-growing industry. The pause is necessary to address concerns about renewables' reliability and land use, said a spokesperson for Alberta's utilities minister.
"Those investment decisions ... are not going to move forward until the government clears this up," Dye said.Alberta has led the country in building renewable capacity and is on track to eliminating combustion of coal for power next year, six years ahead of plan. Calgary-based BluEarth Renewables is reviewing the 400 megawatts' worth of early-stage wind and solar projects it was considering for the province, although it has no projects currently in Alberta's approval queue, said CEO Grant Arnold.