The Sherwood Park and Strathcona County News: “Shell and Silicon Ranch to build $100M solar farm at Scotford”
The Sherwood Park and Strathcona County News reported on the announcement of Silicon Ranch’s Scotford Solar Project facility.
SR Scotford, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Ranch Corporation, plans to construct a 58-megawatt behind-the-meter solar farm to power Shell Canada Energy and Chemicals Park Scotford (‘Scotford Refinery’) northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. The Strathcona County solar farm will be key in helping to transform Scotford into one of Shell’s five energy and chemicals parks, providing its customers with lower-carbon fuels and products.
Silicon Ranch, one of the largest independent power producers in the United States, will build, own, and operate the solar farm (its first in Canada) with all power generation capacity dedicated to Shell’s Scotford Refinery for the next 25 years. Once built, the project will provide 20% of the refinery’s energy needs with renewable electricity.
Silicon Ranch plans to hire about 150 workers and will emphasize hiring locally for the project’s construction, which is expected to begin in Q3 2022 and be completed by the end of 2023, pending environmental reviews. The Strathcona County solar farm will also feature Silicon Ranch’s holistic approach to land management, compatible with future pollinator habitats or managed sheep grazing.
Shell’s transformation of Scotford Refinery into an energy and chemicals park complements the site’s leading positions in energy efficiency and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Renewable power and CCS will enable Scotford Refinery to process new feedstocks such as bio-oils or waste oils to significantly reduce CO2 emitted in the production of fuels today. Scotford Refinery’s transition into a fully integrated energy and chemicals park is anticipated to happen over the course of a decade.
58 MW
~150,390
~245 acres
~3,660 homes
Q4 2021
Power Purchase Agreement Executed
Q1 2022 – Q3 2022
Environmental Reviews
and Permitting
Q3 2022 – Q4 2023
Construction of Facility
Q1 2024
Operations
Have questions about the Scotford Solar Project? We’ve compiled a list of common questions about the site and answers to them, including project facts, maps, and more.
Silicon Ranch will invest more than $125 million to build the Scotford Solar Project, and during the construction phase alone, will create about 150 construction jobs and support the creation of additional jobs through indirect and induced impacts. Once operational, the project is expected to contribute approximately $200,000 a year on a levelized basis to the Strathcona County local government and school system, while requiring little to no county services in return.
Learn more about the benefits that the Scotford Solar Project brings to the community.
See the latest news and updates surrounding the Scotford Solar Project, including local and regional articles, public hearings, and more.
The Sherwood Park and Strathcona County News reported on the announcement of Silicon Ranch’s Scotford Solar Project facility.
The Globe And Mail reported on Silicon Ranch’s Scotford Solar Project in November 2021.