The Grande Prairie Public School District, one of the boards that signed onto the purchasing agreement, also expects there will be some energy-cost savings over the long term from the agreement, said board member John Lehners. The board voted unanimously in support of the contract, he said. “As a school district we’re pretty proud of our stewardship with the environment and trying to be responsible citizens, so we think this is a good way to manage not only our financial but our corporate values,” he said. The Bull Creek wind project has a generating capacity of 29.2 megawatts (MW). “The potential to grow the renewable energy business in Alberta is really significant,” said McDonald. “It has one of the best wind and solar resources in the country and the cost of energy from, for example, solar PV, photovoltaics, in Canada has dropped more than 60 percent in the past four years,” he said. Currently, BluEarth has at least three more renewable energy projects under development in the province, including a 70 MW wind farm near Hanna and two 20 MW solar projects in the southeast region of the province. As of June 2016, wind energy accounted for about nine per cent of Alberta’s installed generation capacity for electricity.
An Alberta wind farm is generating enough power for 500 local schools , thanks to a 20-year agreement between BluEarth Renewables and the Alberta Schools Commodities Purchasing Consortium . Gareth McDonald , the lead of development for BluEarth ' ’ Bull Creek wind project , said the region has " one of the best wind and solar resources in the country " and the cost of renewable energy had dropped by 60 % in the past five years . The Bull Creek wind project has a capacity of up to 29.2MW , while the long - term nature of the Alberta agreement protects the schools from market volatility .