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Opposition is growing to a 23-hectare solar farm proposed for the Edmonton river valley, next to the west-end water treatment facility.

Epcor officials want to use land the company already owns to build a solar farm beside the E.L. Smith facility. But environmental organizations and many residents say it makes more sense to put it on less valuable land or even rooftops throughout the city.

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“Go elsewhere. We realize it’s highly convenient, but there are alternatives,” Patsy Cotterill, a member of the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition, said Tuesday.

“The river valley is such prime parkland and parkland is at a premium, especially as the city grows,” Cotterill said.

Feeding the grid

Craig Bonneville, director of Epcor’s Edmonton water treatment plants, said the solar farm should go in the river valley because it’s most efficient to produce electricity beside the facility that will use it. The 12-megawatt solar farm will run the water treatment facility and produce 30 per cent extra to feed into the grid.