Alberta’s freeze on renewable energy projects belongs in the hall of fame of dumb ideas

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Throughout her turbulent time in office, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been consistent about one thing: her use of the federal Liberals as a dodge for her own incompetence.

Anything bad that befalls the province is the fault of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Anything good is the result of her United Conservative Party’s brilliant policies. Although that list is far shorter than the former.

Now, the Premier is in full damage control mode (again) over her government’s decision last week to put an almost seven-month freeze on renewable energy projects in the province. The decision came as a complete shock to the industry, which wasn’t offered so much as a phone call to let them know what was coming.

By the weekend, criticism of the decision had reached such a crescendo that Ms. Smith had to move in and spin the situation as best she could. Apparently suspecting that the average Albertan wouldn’t know the difference, the Premier blamed the federal government, saying its policies prohibit the province from adding any natural gas to the electricity grid. She posited that she couldn’t bring on more wind and solar projects without adding more natural-gas backup generation plants, which Ottawa was prohibiting.

There was only one problem with her assertion: People who know far more about electricity matters than the Premier said that what she was asserting made no sense.

Andrew Leach, an economist at the University of Alberta with a vast knowledge of the province’s energy industry (and former chair of the Alberta NDP government’s climate leadership panel), told The Canadian Press that wind and solar projects simply add cheap electricity to the overall grid in the province. It doesn’t need to be backed up by other forms of electricity. Others have suggested that energy from wind and solar can simply be stored and released to customers when it is needed. On the social media platform X, Mr. Leach provided a graph that showed that wind and solar helped reduce energy prices in the province in 2022 and 2023.

The fact is, there is a far more compelling explanation for the decision Ms. Smith’s government made: politics.

Before the Premier came up with her “blame the feds” strategy to justify this ridiculous decision, her government had initially said that it was pressing pause on the sector because it was effectively growing too fast. They needed to get things under control and perhaps establish some guidelines for future development.

Fair enough, perhaps. But that’s something you solve while you continue to build a critically important industry, if you believe wind and solar are the types of energy the world needs more of, not less.

Most of the complaints about the renewable sector, however, have come from rural Alberta, which forms the all-important political base of the UCP. As such, it punches far above its weight with this government. It is in rural Alberta where suspicion of anything “green” is highest. Many residents see “green” as something that will kill the goose that keeps laying golden eggs in the province: oil and gas.

They also see green as a central part of Mr. Trudeau’s political agenda, which means it can’t be any part of an Alberta government’s agenda.

Ms. Smith has been a faithful champion of rural Alberta’s deep distrust of policies designed to combat climate change. She has said Ottawa’s climate targets for the province are unattainable. She has said Alberta will set its own climate goals and will not be told what to do by Mr. Trudeau.

Halting the development of new renewable energy projects in the province for more than half a year will all but assure Alberta will not meet Ottawa’s 2035 net-zero electricity target. It will also put billions of dollars in potential future investment in jeopardy.

There is also the Rob Anderson factor in all this. Mr. Anderson is the Premier’s top political adviser in her office. He is on record as saying wind and solar farms are “butt ugly” and a “complete scam.” He’s wanted them stopped for some time – and now he may be getting his wish.

Who wants to invest in a place with banana republic-like behaviour like this? Is this how you treat an industry that has delivered billions of dollars in investment in the province? That has helped soften Alberta’s image as energy troglodytes whose motto might as well be “burn baby burn”?

It’s absolutely unconscionable that Ms. Smith would sanction such a move as global warming transitions to global boiling. Is this really the time to halt renewable energy development to assuage those who want to keep burning fossil fuels?

Just when you think the Smith government has reached its lowest point, it sinks even further.