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Wind farm is blowing closer to Medicine Hat

The Gas City is a step closer to being better known as the Windy City. The City of Medicine Hat received approval from the province's energy regulator in late 2010 to construct a wind farm on its northeast edge.
The Gas City is a step closer to being better known as the Windy City.

The City of Medicine Hat received approval from the province's energy regulator in late 2010 to construct a wind farm on its northeast edge.

With the approval by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), Medicine Hat city council must now decide whether to move forward with the wind farm, which would carry an approximate cost of $25 million to the city.

The wind farm would be a visible change in a municipality that long used abundant natural-gas wealth to help fuel economic development.

The project consists of four two-megawatt wind turbines, which would generate enough electricity for about 3,000 Medicine Hat residences. It would be located on the east side of Box Springs Road near the city's northern boundary.

"This is the next step in what has been an exhaustive process and now it's up to council to decide whether or not it's in the city's best interest to proceed," said Russell Smith, the city's manager of energy sustainability.

If city council approves the project, the target date for the erection of the wind farm would be late 2012 or early 2013.

There are currently over 500 megawatts of wind power on the Alberta grid, enough power to supply four cities the size of Medicine Hat. In the long term, the AUC expects to see a significant increase in the amount of wind power currently connected to the Alberta electric system.


from Western Investor, February 2011