[ad_1]
Article content
The federal government is earmarking $160 million for solar-power projects across Alberta as part of Ottawa’s push towards more clean technology infrastructure.
Article content
It marks the latest Alberta-centric announcement from the federal Liberals, with several ministers spending time in the province this week during the Calgary Stampede.
Article content
Speaking in Drumheller Tuesday morning, federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the $160-million envelope would fund nine projects which will generate a cumulative 163 megawatts of solar power, along with 48 MW of battery storage capacity.
Those projects are slated to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, a number officials say carries similar reductions to removing 61,000 gas-powered cars from roads each year.
“Alberta’s immense potential for solar power generation, combined with the expertise of workers and the ambitious planning of Indigenous and community partners is helping to power a surge in clean energy development in the region,” Natural Resources Canada said in a news release.
Federal government believes 2035 net-zero goal ‘can be done’
The funding is going toward nine projects, largely in southern Alberta.
Article content
“The federal government’s view is that it can be done,” Wilkinson said, referring to the 2035 net-zero goal.
“But we also have to be willing to listen to the concerns of Alberta and Saskatchewan and try to find ways to address those concerns — and ideally, address those within the 2035 time frame.”
Feds, province come together to provide $96 million for high-speed internet access in rural, remote Alberta
Elsewhere Tuesday, the two orders of government came together to fund high-speed broadband internet access to some southern Alberta communities.
The combined federal and provincial funding totals $96 million, with high-speed internet access provided for more than 10,000 homes in 46 rural and remote Alberta communities, including about 2,300 Indigenous households.
Alberta intends to brings high-speed internet to all communities by the end of the 2026–27 fiscal year, while the federal government wants the same for all Canadians by 2030.
The Alberta NDP Opposition were critical of the province’s latest rural broadband announcement, saying it’s the 10th such media announcement on the topic since the UCP took office in 2019.
“We don’t need more plans to make more plans, we need real action to get broadband into homes and businesses in rural Alberta,” said the NDP’s technology and innovation critic Court Ellingson in a release.
—With files from The Canadian Press
jherring@postmedia.com
Twitter: @jasonfherring
[ad_2]
Source link
