325MW Saamis Solar Project in the City of Medicine Hat, Alberta will be the second largest of any solar project approved in Canada to date.
Cork-headquartered renewable energy business DP Energy has been granted approval to build North America’s largest urban solar project.
Approval for the project follows a public hearing held in Alberta in April. Construction is set to start in 2025.
“The solar park is a fantastic productive use of the land which will create local jobs and contribute to Alberta’s emission reduction goals”
The 325MW Saamis Solar Park in the City of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, is situated in the northwest of Canada’s sunniest city.
It will support Alberta’s target of sourcing 30% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. It is expected to generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of approximately 250,000 households and offset around 300,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Headquartered in Buttevant in North Cork, and operating for over 30 years, DP Energy has enabled 1.5GW (1,533MW) of renewable energy generation through 21 significant infrastructure projects worldwide. Currently, DP Energy has a 9.7GW pipeline of renewable energy projects across Ireland, the UK, Australia and Canada.
A renewable vision comes to light
Home to more than 600,000 solar panels, Saamis Solar Park will create a number of direct employment opportunities during the construction, operation, and decommissioning phases, as well as extensive indirect opportunities across the full supply chain.
Almost half of the 1600-acre project is sited on a contaminated brownfield site consisting of capped phosphogypsum stacks, a by-product of fertilizer production. This is the largest of three projects DP Energy has developed on similar brownfield sites, with the 64MW Barlow and Deerfoot Solar Park project in the City of Calgary, Canada, commencing operation last year.
DP Energy’s development portfolio in Canada also includes the proposed 200MW Miyopiyiwin Wind project in Saskatchewan in partnership with Piapot First Nation, and the 400MW Nova East Wind project, a joint venture with SBM Offshore, targeted as being Canada’s first offshore wind project.
“We are delighted with the AUC’s approval for the Saamis Solar Park,” said DP Energy’s head of Development for Canada Damian Bettles. “The solar park is a fantastic productive use of the land which will create local jobs and contribute to Alberta’s emission reduction goals. The approval marks a significant milestone for the project and a critical step as the project advances towards start of construction.”
This announcement follows the recent Development Approval of DP Energy’s 430MW Callide Wind Farm, located in the Calliope Range in Queensland, Australia, and the commencement of Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) preparation for the 700MW Euston Wind Farm project in New South Wales, Australia, which is a critical step towards Development Approval.
Other projects that DP Energy has in its pipeline include the Lyra Wind Farm
in Mayo, the Aries Wind Farm in Mayo, as well as a growing portfolio of solar projects and additional early-stage wind farms.
Main images: Artist impressions of what the completed solar farm in Alberta will look like upon completion
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