Two years after a “pause” on new approvals for wind and solar farms was lifted, 14 major renewable energy projects have yet to break ground in southeastern Alberta.
That is due to an uncertain outlook in the sector, say analysts, as Alberta prepares to bring in new cost structures and a new energy market over the next year.
The slowdown, as well as the status of projects already approved, is also creating uncertainty for counties and rural municipalities.
Many had expressed concerns over the speed and scope of renewable energy development, while also seeking out investment and new development to shore up their tax bases.
Newell County councillor Neil Johnson says wind and solar production sites could bolster his region’s tax base, and the size of investments are too large to see disappear.
“It’s huge,” he told CBC News.
“We were talking about a couple hundred million dollars [in projects] … Which we need, because the oilpatch is slowly but surely abandoning wells.
“It was, yeah, a lifeline.”
Johnson, who leases a portion of his farm holdings to an existing solar plant facility, is one of few vocal green-power boosters among rural Alberta politicians.
Councils typically hear stiff opposition at land-use hearings and calls by ratepayers to block further development.
Cypress County councillor Dustin Vossler pushed for local rules to bar solar from setting up on higher-value agricultural land before the province did just that following the moratorium in 2023.
He still wants strict regulations in place.
“It’s all well and good that people make money from it,” said Vossler. “But municipalities and taxpayers will be left to clean it up.”
Cypress County and Newell County, surrounding Brooks and Medicine Hat respectively, are home to at least a dozen projects that are approved by regulators but still awaiting a final go-ahead from developers.
Meanwhile, the Alberta Electric System Operator is finalizing new regulations at the behest of the province.
A new system to assign costs to plant owners for connecting to transmission lines is expected to be outlined this month.
Final points of a “Restructured Energy Market” that are now under discussion with industry leaders are set to be in place in 2027.
Both will affect an energy project’s business plans, leading renewables companies to put work on hold.
“At the end of the day, they’re waiting for clarity,” said Alex Murklowski of EDC Advisors, a consulting firm that works with utility firms.
Depending on the final rules, renewables could be “whacked three ways,” according to Murkowski.
“Long story short for renewables: less revenue, higher operating costs in Alberta, and potentially, seeing your capital commitment [to access power lines] has to double in order to be able to build your project,” he said.
Alberta Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf said in an AESO release last summer that advanced design tenets “supports competition, ensures long-term grid reliability, and protects consumers through strong market design.”
Premier Danielle Smith has argued that more gas-fired plants are needed to avoid price spikes and shortages, and that market changes are needed.
But green-energy proponents have said that has the potential to drive away investment.
Vulcan County Reeve Jason Schneider, whose area hosts the largest wind farm and largest solar farm in Canada, said action on land use was spurred by municipalities.
He hopes the changes on the whole will mean more palatable projects move forward.
“It was a bit of a gold rush,” said Schneider, who argues there are “good developers, and not-so-great developers.”
“I think that some of those not-great developers really left a sour taste in some municipalities’ mouths … But when done properly, in the right scenario, like in our area, it’s actually worked out extremely well.”
Renewable facilities now provide $7 million in annual taxes to the 4,500-person county.
About “a dozen” more at various stages are proposed in the area, said Schneider.
Utility firms with projects in southeastern Alberta have asked the Alberta Utilities Commission to extend construction deadlines laid out in initial approvals.
Near Medicine Hat, French firms EDF and Engie have pushed back large wind farms.
Similarly, Canadian-based Northland Power has asked to pause its Luna Solar application near Brooks, citing the need for regulatory certainty to make accurate profit projections.
Another nearby Northland project, Jurassic Solar, will proceed initially as a battery storage facility, the company said last year. Solar arrays could come later at the site that spans the Newell and Cypress boundary.
Those two municipalities are home to 60,000 oil and gas wells considered to be marginally economical, according to provincial government reports. If they are permanently closed, they would be taken off tax rolls over time.
That worries rural administrators like Steven Toews, Cypress County’s general manager of corporate services.
“We hear diversification, diversification, diversification — and economic development is a big part of that,” he said. “But the scale and scope of our oil and gas [assets] is so substantial that diversifying is a huge endeavour.”
Cypress County’s tax assessment base has grown by $400 million, or eight per cent, owing solely to new renewable energy projects over the last several years, said Toews.
According to the Business Renewables Centre, 16 Alberta municipalities each received more than $1 million in tax revenue from renewable power projects operating in their jurisdictions.
Newell collected just over $400,000 in 2025, compared to $4 million in Cypress County.
The counties of Vulcan and Forty Mile each received about $7 million — about one-third of their respective total tax revenue, while areas around Pincher Creek and Oyen also record a high portion.
