Request for Proposal (RFP)- Solar Energy Investment Attraction Strategy
Published on August 15, 2011
The Economic Development Alliance (EDA) of Southeast Alberta has a mandate to increase wealth, promote investment, and work with businesses to access and expand new markets throughout the region it serves. The EDA’s member municipalities are the City of Medicine Hat, Towns of Redcliff and Bow Island, and Counties Cypress and Forty Mile. Through the EDA, these municipalities strive to achieve sustainable economic growth and maximize value of resources in the region.The region’s key sectors include energy, agriculture, technology and advanced manufacturing, and tourism. In addition to these traditional sectors, the EDA strives to develop emerging sectors and to attract investment to build industry.
The EDA has interest in developing the emerging Alternative Energy Sector. Specifically, the EDA has interest in identifying opportunities in the region in the area of solar energy, given the positive attributes of the region and the increasing interest among municipalities and residents in utilizing solar energy. Spurring the interest in solar is also the fact that within Canada, the solar resource potential is generally concentrated in the southern part of the country. In fact, according to the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, the very best potential is concentrated around Southeast Alberta and in the Southern half of the remaining Prairie Provinces.
To that end, the EDA will engage the services of a qualified consultant to develop a targeted investment attraction strategy to guide regional solar energy development. Specifically, the strategy will assist us by expanding our knowledge of the solar energy sector and identifying companies that may be interested in developing solar farms in Southeast Alberta or those involved in the manufacturing of solar energy components.