A bright sunshiny day, brings enough power to light up 20,000 homes

A new solar farm is expected to be in service soon, just on the edge of Aldersyde.

The Saddlebrook Solar and Storage project is being built in two phases, with the first phase expected to be completed and in service this December.

In a statement from TC Energy, they state that the facility is energized, and they are already supplying incremental power to the Alberta electricity market.

Once the first phase is fully complete, the facility will be able to produce up to 81 megawatts of energy.

That's enough power to accommodate 20,000 homes.

The solar generating facility is using bifacial solar panels, which means that each of the photovoltaic solar cells are capable of producing energy when either side of the solar cell is illuminated.

These cells are also able to pick up light that has been reflected back at them from other objects, helping to increase the energy output of each cell.

The second phase of this project will consist of installing a utility-scale energy storage facility. 

Construction of the second phase will begin in the new year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

Electricity from this facility will be fed into the Alberta Interconnected Electric System (AIES).

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, HighRiverOnline and OkotoksOnline encourage you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the HighRiverOnline or OkotoksOnline app.