The Alberta Utilities Commission releases an update on the renewables pause

This legal bulletin is an update to the legal bulletin published on August 8, 2023, titled Alberta pauses renewable project approvals and initiates inquiry.

On August 22, 2023, and after analyzing almost 600 stakeholder submissions, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) announced how it will process applications for renewable energy generation projects captured by the Generation Approvals Pause Regulation (the Regulation). In short, the AUC will continue to process applications for these projects, up to the point of issuing an approval. The AUC will:

• Continue to accept and process new applications (filed between August 3, 2023, and February 29, 2024), but will not issue approvals for new applications;
• Continue to process existing applications (filed before August 3, 2023), but will not issue approvals for existing applications; and
• Allow existing applications to voluntarily enter abeyance until February 29, 2024.

The AUC has also announced that it will add interim information requirements to Rule 007: Applications for Power Plants, Substations, Transmission Lines, Industrial System Designations, Hydro Developments and Gas Utility Pipelines. 

These interim information requirements may include, but are not limited to, information on agricultural land, viewscapes and reclamation security. New applications will be required to satisfy these new interim information requirements while existing applications may be required to satisfy them. We see the integration of informational requirements for issues flagged in the Regulation as a sign of the AUC’s intent to limit delays to applications by immediately addressing some of the issues government identified, ahead of the parallel inquiry. Even if only on a preliminary and interim basis, it is a positive sign.

The AUC has also provided further details on the inquiry it was directed to conduct by the Regulation. The inquiry will be conducted using a modular approach, where the AUC will consider discrete issues, or groups of issues, separately. The AUC is in the process of finalizing the schedule for each module and will issue process directions for participants shortly.

If you have any questions or wish to participate in the inquiry, please do not hesitate to contact any of the authors of this bulletin.