Employer must pay $241,477 in penalty
One Alberta employer must pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars after it was found to have bypassed necessary regulatory tests before it started operating a power generating plant.
The Alberta Utilities Commission has fined Avex Energy – previously known as Avila Energy – for running a natural gas-fired generator while bypassing regulatory tests for safe and unobtrusive operation.
Noise complaints proved to be the undoing of the company.
In the summer of 2019, officials from the company approached the commission with plans to build a generating station in the County of Stettler.
The company already held permits for operating a natural gas field in that area of central Alberta and planned to use that gas to fuel the plant, according to a report from The Canadian Press published on both the Journal of Commerce and on CBC.
Because of this, the company did not think it was necessary to seek additional approval, and it went through with its plans, operating the Red Willow power plant.
The generator was built and fired up on April 23, 2021, and the electricity eventually reached 3.5 megawatts. The company planned to generate up to 10 megawatts.
By December 2021, however, the commission began to receive noise complaints from residents, some as far as three kilometres awat from the plant.
The complaints noted that residents first noticed the noise in May 2021, and it became problematic in October 2021, “when the additional generating capacity was added," according to both reports, citing the agreed statement of facts.
Upon looking into the complaints, the commission found that Avex Energy was unlicensed.
Aside from not applying for a license to operate the plant, the company also had not conducted a noise assessment as required, nor did it receive required environmental approvals.
The Red Willow power plant was shut Dec. 22, 2021. It remains closed.
