Hornung told delegates at CANWEA’s annual conference in Toronto that the wind and solar industries have joined force to propose the province move from nine per cent renewable energy in its mix today to 30-40% by 2030.
"Will the government land there? I don’t know," said Hornung. "There are other proposals on the table. But I can say this government is seriously looking at this issue."
The province is in the middle of consultations on a new climate strategy, and has said it wants to accelerate the phase-out of nearly 6,300MW of coal-fired generation while boosting the penetration of renewable energy sources.
CANWEA and the Canadian Solar Industries Association have proposed Alberta implement a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) that includes competitive contracting for large-scale projects, and a standard offer tariff for distributed generation of up to 15MW.
