Renewable energy projects in Alberta generated nearly $5-billion in investments and almost 5,500 jobs between 2019 and 2023, according to the Pembina Institute.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Alberta’s clean energy sector is in retreat. In 2024, the number of renewables projects in the province’s connection queue shrunk for the first time, meaning more projects were cancelled than proposed.

It’s not hard to parse why. Since 2023, mounting regulatory burdens, an abrupt seven-month moratorium on new project approvals, rising regulatory fee and uncertainty brought on by the provincial government have hit the industry.

Alberta only needs to look so far as Texas, which shares key characteristics with the province, to understand the consequences of taking a hard stance against renewables. Texas and Alberta share an abundance of wind and solar resources, and a free market that encourages competition and innovation from independent power producers.

But the difference is that Texas has embraced the economic benefits of a thriving renewables sector. Deregulated markets attract the most economic forms of energy and in many cases, that’s wind and solar.

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