Alberta — The Government of Canada says it’s taking “meaningful” action on its Greening Government Strategy commitment to power federal buildings with 100% renewable electricity by 2025 to help fight climate change and support local renewable electricity projects.
The government announced 2 initiatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan, which it says support its commitment to investing in renewable energy and achieving the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
In the announcement, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) awarded Capital Power a 23-year contract valued up to $500 million to power federal buildings in Alberta with green electricity, effective January 1, 2023.
The contract value is based on an estimated 250,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of annual electricity required by federal facilities in the province.
This electricity will be attributed to a new proposed wind energy generation facility in Alberta, expected to be operational by January 1, 2025. Capital Power will secure an equity partnership with local Indigenous organizations related to the project as part of the agreement.
The government also announced that PSPC signed an agreement with Saskatchewan’s main supplier of electricity, SaskPower, to power federal government operations in Saskatchewan using renewable electricity, which totals about 87,000 MWh of electricity per year.
Up to 25% of the federal government’s electricity consumption will be attributed to new solar projects within the province, which began operating in the summer of 2022.
The remaining 75% will come from a new Saskatchewan-based wind energy generation project expected to be operational by 2024.
Once these projects in Alberta and Saskatchewan are fully operational, the Government of Canada’s combined emissions in these provinces will be reduced by about 166 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (ktCO2e), which is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of more than 50,800 gas-powered passenger vehicles.
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