Behind me is a solar installation on nearly 15 hectares of land once it’s activated it’ll give more than enough energy for the town of smoky Lake the solar array was built at matey crossing a small community about 90 minutes Northeast of Edmonton on land owned by the matey nation of Alberta which
Governs over 50,000 matey citizens in the province this project is not only a labor of love for the m&a it’s also important to all of its citizens and it started with one simple question we went out to the citizens all around Alberta and asked them what they were concerned
About and what they wanted us to do when it came to climate action and environmental action someone brought up the idea of a solar farm and that was kind of the the spur that was the spark mate people are so connected to the land um you know to the skies to the waters
We’ve had that connection for hundreds of years and it’s you know it’s really in our blood and its name speaks to that deep connection so the name that was chosen is C praan and it means a gift from the Sun in Mitch and it’s it’s
Exactly what we wanted it to be this is our block three um we’re just finishing up work on this block Andreas Fila has been working on the project for 5 years when these blocks are complete how many houses will it uh give power to so this is going to generate enough power to
Power 1,200 Alberta homes and um it’s going to do that for the next 25 to 30 years that’s enough to power all the m&a owned buildings in Alberta and there are other benefits too within its first SE operation it’s going to offset about 4,700 tons of CO2 equivalent uh and so
And you get that for one year and then every year over the next 25 to 30 years so we’re excited it’s a significant amount of CO2 that we’re going to essentially take out of the the atmosphere the m& hopes projects like this are just the beginning when we look
At you know uh the future I think the the aim is to be Net Zero not only internally and within m&a operations but also within the whole nation in a province that’s rich in oil and gas the nma hopes to lay pran will help others Embrace Alberta’s green future so for ma
People I think it’s just it’s a value that’s inherent to our way of life um it’s something that we can teach other people it’s something that everyone could learn to have gratitude for the the gifts that we get from Mother Earth and from the environment the m&a is not
Alone in that goal Cay pran is one of about a dozen solar projects built or currently underway on indigenous lands across Alberta Stephanie cram CBC News Edmonton
The Métis Nation of Alberta’s new solar farm just north of Métis Crossing will provide electricity for the Nation’s operations, with additional power going to nearby Smoky Lake. The solar farm is named Salay Prayzaan, meaning, ‘a gift from the sun.’
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