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Alberta governments should be careful their money doesn’t go up in smoke before investing in green industries, City of Edmonton chief economist John Rose warned Wednesday.

While there are big opportunities in renewable energy, technology and programs, the province needs to look closely to determine how much potential these businesses have in this region, Rose said.

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“Alberta is coming to the game very late, behind Germany and other jurisdictions that have been at this for a very long time,” he told a meeting of the Economics Society of Northern Alberta.

“It’s an area of interest, and potentially opportunity, but it’s fraught with risk.”

He cited Spain and Ontario as two places that saw renewable energy investments turn ugly.

Spain, buoyed by generous subsidies, was a leader in solar and wind production eight years ago, but the sector was hit hard when spending was cut a few years later in response to the world financial meltdown.