Green energy supply contracts signed by the Alberta New Democrat government are operating in the black, according to a new paper from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
The Renewable Energy Program awarded three rounds of power supply contracts at set prices to wind power developers beginning in 2017.
Three projects in the first round have been in operation for about 18 months – including the Whitla Wind Farm near Bow Island – and researchers estimate those put power on the grid below the floating market price.
The discount could be $2 million per year in the province’s favour, say researchers Blake Shaffer and Sara Hastings-Simon of the U of C, and a net to the government as much as $28 million because they don’t collect carbon credit offsets as per the contract.