Originally published May 3, 2024 at The Narwhal. Read the full story here.

The president and CEO of Alberta’s independent electricity grid operator was pressured to support the provincial government’s controversial decision to suspend new renewable energy projects, despite his objections to the move, new internal documents obtained by The Narwhal reveal.

Mike Law — the top official at the Alberta Electric System Operator, the organization overseeing the province’s electricity grid — was opposed to a moratorium on new renewable energy projects and was “not comfortable” supporting the decision, according to the documents. 

Nevertheless, in July, he was told by his government-appointed board chair to “support the minister without reservation.”

The documents, released through a freedom of information request, disclose internal correspondence contradicting claims by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that her government’s decision to pause renewable energy developments for seven months was partially in response to requests from the operator.

“The Alberta Electric System Operator asked for us to do a pause, to make sure that we could address issues of stability of the grid,” Smith said in August 2023 when pressed by reporters asking why the government made the decision, adding that the grid’s regulator, the Alberta Utilities Commission, also asked for the pause. 

“The desire to halt the new project pipeline is a very troubling message for me, and is something we need to provide good messaging against [to the Government of Alberta] when we have the opportunity,” Law wrote to his colleagues in June 2023, shortly after hearing about the government’s plans. Halting the “new project pipeline” refers to the renewables pause, which appears not to have been clearly defined at that time. 

Law added that the pause, coupled with an inquiry conducted by the regulator, would send industry into a “tailspin.” It would, he said in another email to the board chair, send a “closed-for-business message,” and would be “reputationally very challenging” for the province.

“If we make ourselves unwelcoming, investment will just go elsewhere,” he wrote.

His unequivocal opposition came the day after Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf used his first meeting with Karl Johannson, the chair of the Alberta Electric System Operator, to say he wanted to pursue a pause — again contradicting the government’s claims about why it made the decision to temporarily suspend project approvals. 

That meeting took place on June 28, 2023.

In response, Johannson — appointed by the UCP government in 2020 — warned Law against being too vocal.

“I would be careful with your messaging on this,” Johannson cautioned in an email on June 29. “This may be a way for the minister to show action and if he goes this way we are better off to have a say on the process rather than let the Alberta Utility Commission have sole reign. I agree that it can be a burden but it is better than inaction.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NARWHAL.