Reading Time: 6 minutes Alberta may be oil and gas country, but right now, another natural resource is booming in the province — solar energy. “Alberta is by far the fastest-growing solar market in Canada right now,” said Nicholas Gall, director of distributed energy resources for the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. “Large corporate buyers — companies like Amazon, Budweiser, […] Read more
THE NEW ENERGY BOOM: The sun is shining on Alberta’s solar industry
Every sector of Alberta’s solar energy industry is seeing strong demand — including from agriculture
Boom delays pilot to convert abandoned well sites to solar
Solar equipment makers ‘tapped right out’ but interest in conversions still strong
Reading Time: 2 minutes A sizzling buildout of solar in Alberta has delayed a pilot project that will convert abandoned oil and gas well sites to sun-powered power generation. “We’ve been caught in the major solar boom that’s been happening throughout Alberta, so getting equipment has tightened up quite a bit from where it was a year ago,” said […] Read more
Solar energy in Alberta facing a few storm clouds
The inconsistent supply of power, finding land and hooking up to the grid are all challenges
Reading Time: 2 minutes The forecast for solar energy generation in Alberta is mostly sunny, but there are a few storm clouds on the horizon. Solar generation potential Solar energy comes with a downside — it doesn’t produce at night, and it produces more in the summer than in the winter. But in Alberta, solar energy actually gives a […] Read more
Dreyfus, others shut soy crushers in China on power curbs
'Cash is on fire'
Beijing | Reuters — Soymeal prices in China, the world’s top consumer of the animal feed ingredient, are rising after at least 20 soybean crushing plants shuttered to comply with curbs on industrial power consumption, industry participants said on Friday. Five crushing plants in the northern city of Tianjin closed this week, said Tianfeng Futures […] Read more
Alberta stakes its claim as a solar energy power
Vulcan County to be home to country’s largest solar farm as big corporations go green
Reading Time: 2 minutes Vulcan County will soon be home to the country’s largest solar farm — with the world’s largest online retailer buying most of the power from the 465-MW facility. The Travers solar farm, to be built eight kilometres southwest of Lomond, will occupy 3,300 acres of cropland. It will be built by Greengate Power Corporation, a […] Read more
Facing green push on farm, fertilizer makers look to sea for growth
Winnipeg/Oslo | Reuters — Two of the world’s biggest fertilizer producers, CF Industries and Yara International, are seeking to cash in on the green energy transition by reconfiguring ammonia plants in the U.S. and Norway to produce clean energy to power ships. The consumption of oil for transportation is one of the top contributors to […] Read more
Inspired by farmers, irrigation district aims for ‘net zero’
St. Mary River Irrigation District moves a lot of water and has a big electric bill — but that’s about to change
Reading Time: 4 minutes The St. Mary River Irrigation District is putting the sun to work providing water to its users. Solar arrays at two large pump stations have the district in a position to achieve net zero electrical use — and potentially save hundreds of thousands in electricity costs down the road. The inspiration to look at solar came […] Read more
FCC to offer flexibility in hurricane-battered areas
Farm Credit Canada says it plans to help its farmer clients in Atlantic Canada work around financial pressures following Hurricane Dorian’s passage through the region over the weekend. “We won’t know the full extent of damage for some time, but we’ve already heard that some customers will likely be facing some financial hardship as a […] Read more
The sun still shines on solar energy in rural Alberta
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s been two years since the provincial government announced its plan to power 30 per cent of Alberta’s electrical grid with renewables by 2030, along with a $5-million commitment to help rural Alberta connect to the solar grid. There’s been good take-up by producers, says the executive director of the Solar Energy Society of Alberta, […] Read more
Quick steps to better energy efficiency
Energy expert offers some ‘low-hanging fruit’ that can help producers save money on their power or fuel bill
Reading Time: 3 minutes Maximizing energy efficiency on farms and ranches saves money, and who likes to spend money when they don’t have to? But there are only so many hours in the day and only so many dollars for these sorts of projects. So the real question for many farmers is: Where to start? What are the ‘low-hanging […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
