“The idea is to help accelerate and reduce the cost of abandonment in the area…and also to decrease some of the energy costs for irrigation farmers,” explained RenuWell Energy Solutions founder and president Keith Hirsche. He said the approach doesn’t differ much from a standard solar installation, but makes more efficient use of the space the projects require, using lands that already have access to roads and power lines.

“The best site locations are generally located on farmlands, where farmers can buy the power directly for their irrigation systems,” CBC writes, citing Hirsche. And the potential across Alberta’s 163,000 inactive and abandoned wells is huge: “If around 10% of abandoned wells around the province are utilized for solar projects, it could possibly meet the land resource requirements for 6,200 MW of solar energy development.”

Hirsche stressed the solar work won’t remove the obligation to clean up the abandoned wells. “It’s really important to make sure this isn’t another dumping ground for oil and gas liabilities,” he said.

Source: Alberta Start-Up Plans Solar Arrays for Abandoned Oil Wells – The Energy Mix