The Harvest Solar Development in Hanna will not be going forward at this time after the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) denied its application.
PACE Canada Development has been working on A 15 MW solar development on 171 acres of private pastureland within the Town of Hanna, adjacent to the municipal airport. It has been met with considerable opposition.
By motion of the council, the Town of Hanna penned a letter of non-support to the developer and a Hanna Land Owners Group was formed, which encouraged residents to submit their concerns to be heard by the AUC.
PACE Canada, members of the Hanna Landowners Opposition Group, as well as the Hanna Flying Association and the Town of Hanna, all made presentations at the Hearing.
Many of the concerns centred around the safety of such a development near an uncontrolled airport. This included an emergency plan and issues with glint and glare coming from the installation.
On June 6, the AUC issued its decision. It noted its major concern was with it being in close proximity to the airport, which sees about 200 takeoffs and landings a year. With the proposed project, solar panels could have been within 120 metres of the centreline of the primary paved runway.
“The Commission finds that PACE provided insufficient evidence to persuade the Commission that the project and the Hanna Airport can safely operate together. The project would remove obstacle-free land on either side of the paved runway for aircraft performing emergency landings,” it noted in its decision. If an emergency landing by an airplane is needed due to, as examples, turbulence impacts caused by the solar arrays on aircraft landing and taking off, a bird strike, or for other reasons, then because of the project’s siting the aircraft may crash in the solar arrays. If this occurs, the solar arrays present a unique challenge for firefighters, resulting in a heightened safety risk for both firefighters and pilots.”
It also noted that PACE did not provide a sufficiently robust emergency response plan to demonstrate how risks are adequately mitigated, and found that the site is not suitable.
“Even if the Commission were to accept PACE’s submissions as to why the project would be in the public interest, including consideration of benefits such as reducing carbon in electricity generation, additional property taxes and creation of jobs, the impacts of the project in relation to safety are simply unacceptable. As a result, the Commission finds that the project is not in the public interest and therefore denies the application,” it noted.
