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Edmonton could see its first solar-energy farm in the city with a 12-megawatt generation facility planned near the neighbourhood of Cameron Heights.

Epcor unveiled the plan at council’s utility committee meeting Friday, saying the farm would cover 60 acres (24 hectares) of land it owns just south of the E.L. Smith Water Treatment plant in the river valley.

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The project still needs an environmental assessment, rezoning approval from city council and provincial approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission. But Epcor plans to start public consultation with a mail-out to neighbours this month.

“It’s more than a concept — it’s in preliminary design,” said Epcor’s Darrell Manning, adding they hope to file an application to the provincial regulator this year. Forty per cent of the energy produced by the solar farm would be used to run the water treatment centre; the rest would go into greening the electricity grid.