ATCO completes Canada's biggest solar project in partnership with Indigenous communities

• Canadians Utilities, an ATCO company revealed on Wednesday the completion of Canada's largest off-grid solar project in collaboration with three Alberta Indigenous neighborhoods.

The project is reported to offer the Northern Alberta Community of Fort Chipewyan (Fort Chip) with tidy power, in addition to lowering local diesel usage by around 800,000 litres each year.

" We are devoted to aiding our consumers and also communities in the shift to lower discharge power systems, regardless of just how remote their area," said Siegfried Kiefer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Utilities. "Our solar project in Fort Chipewyan, finished combined with our companions, is a terrific instance of this."

Collaboration

The collaboration is with Three Nations Energy (3NE), which is jointly possessed by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nations and also Fort Chipewyan Metis Association.

According to a news release ATCO created as well as constructed the two-phased project that includes a 600-kW solar farm, owned and also operated by ATCO, and a 2,200-kW solar farm possessed by all three Indigenous communities and run by ATCO.

" This exceptional project showcases exactly how sector and Indigenous neighborhoods can collaborate to develop lasting and also renewable resource remedies that will certainly benefit today's and also future generations," claimed Nancy Southern the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of ATCO.

" Partnering with Indigenous areas in a meaningful financial means is something we take really seriously. Together with 3NE, we are cultivating community ownership and also self-reliant financial growth with task creation, financial investment in facilities, and also income from the sale of tidy power."

Fort Chip is home to almost 1,000 citizens that rely on diesel-fueled generation for electricity.

ATCO states this solar project will certainly give about 25 percent of Fort Chip's electrical energy requires yearly by reducing trucking as well as usage of diesel fuel.

" Our people have a happy custom of making our livelihood from the lasting use of regional renewable resources. We are dedicated to being excellent stewards of the land for future generations," claimed Blue Eyes Simpson-- V.P. Fort Chipewyan Metis Association and also 3NE Director.

" Reducing carbon emissions by replacing imported diesel with our locally-owned solar farm utilizes brand-new technology to act upon these values in such a way that will boost our power protection as well as self-sufficiency."