Bennett Jones acted for ATCO Ltd. in its acquisition of the Empress Solar Project, a 39 MW photovoltaic solar facility under development in Alberta. This marks another step in ATCO's commitment to contribute to the decarbonization of the electricity grid while enabling customers to reduce the carbon intensity of their energy. Through Canadian Utilities Limited, ATCO acquired the development rights to the project from a third-party developer.
The project is located south of the village of Empress near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border and has received its major permits, with project execution underway and commercial operations expected in 2022.
Using approximately 85,000 bifacial solar panels affixed to a single-axis tracking system, the facility will provide enough renewable electricity to power more than 11,000 homes annually, offsetting 43,000 tonnes of carbon a year.
Additional details on the Empress Solar Project are available on ATCO's website.
The Bennett Jones transaction team is led by Luke Morrison and includes Jason Roth, Megan Ollivier, Allegra Hessels, Parker McKibbon and Xaverie MacLennan.
For additional information on solar power projects in Canada, please see our New Energy Economy Series of blog posts and podcasts.