The Alberta government announced changes to regulations December 21 to allow more flexibility about how Albertans can generate their own electricity.
Changes to the regulation that governs micro-generation include increasing the size limit to five megawatts from one megawatt and allowing a micro-generating system to serve adjacent sites, which is especially helpful for operations with more than one building, such as farms.
The revisions allow for more flexibility and a greater variety of configurations. For example, a farm operation or a university campus could have multiple buildings served by one micro-generation system. Other regulatory updates will help to better ensure the reliability, stability, and safety of micro-generation and the distribution grid.
“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,” said Margaret McCuaig-Boyd, Minister of Energy. “They provide more options and enable larger projects, and will contribute to our province’s target of 30 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.”
Renewing and updating the micro-generation regulation was a recommendation of the Climate Leadership Advisory Panel. The province created Energy Efficiency Alberta to further support that work and other initiatives of the panel, with a mandate to deliver a variety of programs and services for energy efficiency and small-scale renewables. It includes opportunities for cost-effective and meaningful reductions in emissions along with energy savings and economic benefits.
Programs for small-scale and community energy systems continue to be finalized, with details to be announced in 2017, the Ministry announcement said. Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan has already invested over $9 million in solar programs for municipalities, Indigenous communities and farms.
Since 2009, micro-generation in Alberta has increased on average by approximately 70 per cent each year, the provincial government calculates. Currently, there are more than 1,700 micro-generation sites in the province, generating over 16 megawatts of electricity.
See also “Clearer picture of restructuring priorities emerges,” IPPSO FACTO, December 2016.