How to win over rural Albertans to renewable energy? Show them the money, says reeve

Rural Albertans are not inherently opposed to renewable energy, but many have legitimate questions and concerns — and others have already seen transformative financial benefits from wind and solar projects, says the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.

"We are going to prosper from this," Paul McLauchlin told the Pembina Institute's Alberta Climate Summit in Calgary on Thursday.

"This is literally a game changer for many municipalities."

McLauchlin is the reeve of Ponoka County and was elected president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) in 2020.

He says a false narrative has developed in the province that rural Albertans are against renewable energy, but the reality is more nuanced.

One the one hand, McLauchlin said, there are genuine concerns over the immediate and long-term impacts of wind and solar projects on agricultural land. On the other, renewable energy has already been a financial lifeline for some rural municipalities that had been struggling with a dwindling tax base and, in some cases, unpaid taxes from oil and gas companies.

"As shocking as that sounds to people, that's truly what's been happening," McLauchlin said.

He told the audience in downtown Calgary that he's aware of at least five small municipalities in the province that would have been facing bankruptcy in the near future if it weren't for the revenue infusion from wind and solar projects in their areas. 

"You know who's coming to save the day? It's the renewable folks," he said.

"We have to recognize that this is a tremendous opportunity."

RMA working with industry on regulator submissions

Alberta is in the midst of a seven-month pause on renewable energy projects, after the provincial government ordered in August that no new approvals be allowed until Feb. 29, 2024.

The province also instructed the Alberta Utilities Commission, which regulates power projects, to conduct an inquiry into what had been a rapidly expanding renewable sector, including its effects on the stability of the electrical grid and impacts on agricultural land.

Evan Wilson with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association said the moratorium was "a mistake" but it has given the industry time to work with rural Albertans on addressing some of their concerns.

His association is working with the RMA on submissions to the regulatory inquiry.

Wilson said the industry and rural leaders are hoping to "speak with one voice" as much as possible.

"This doesn't have to be an antagonistic process," he said.

'We did not ask for the moratorium'

McLauchlin said there is a false perception that the RMA had asked the province for the renewables pause. 

"We did not ask for the moratorium. I've had to repeatedly say that."

At the same time, he says, there is a common misunderstanding over the concerns that rural Albertans have when it comes to farmland being replaced by large banks of solar panels and wind turbines.

"People often say, 'Oh, there's tons of farmland. What's your problem?' There is not enough frickin' farmland, people."

Long-term concerns over the reclamation of land used for renewable projects are also genuine, McLauchlin said, especially given how often some renewable companies change ownership.

Given the "tire fire" of existing environmental liabilities from orphan oil and gas wells, he said the renewable industry needs to be especially sensitive to landowner's concerns.

Wilson said working with the RMA has offered some lessons for the renewable industry about the response it has sometimes received in rural Alberta.

"Just because people have questions doesn't mean they don't support the project," he said.

'The answer ... is money'

McLauchlin, who wrote a master's thesis on rural Alberta households' investment in small-scale renewable projects, said the motivation for supporting wind and solar is often more related to pragmatism than environmentalism.

"The answer to everything, sadly enough, in the world is money," he said.

"I always thought Albertans want to give back; they want to make sure they're saving the planet. The answer is no.… They want to create their own power because they don't like the utility and they don't want to be beholden to someone."

He said to really get more rural folks on board with renewable energy, the language surrounding the industry needs to change to better emphasize the financial benefits.

"It's all language," he said. "In Alberta, words are things."