What’s coming to your fence line?
Battery plants, gas-fired power plants and data centres are being planned on farmland across central Alberta. Red Deer County’s rules haven’t caught up. Neighbours are asking Council to fix that now, before the applications arrive.
Public hearing at Red Deer County Council
Tuesday, October 27 · 1:30 p.m.
Red Deer County Centre, 38106 Range Road 275. Council hears from the public on changes to the Land Use Bylaw. Come and be counted. Even sitting in the room makes a difference. Please arrive by 1:15.
Twenty-five feet.
Under Red Deer County’s rules today, a 100-megawatt battery plant could be built as close as 7.5 metres (about 25 feet) from your property line. A solar farm has to stay 165 metres from your house. Nothing at all protects livestock.
Drawn to scale. Source: Red Deer County Land Use Bylaw. See the documents.
A loophole called “Public Utility”
The County’s bylaw counts “electric power” as a public utility, and a public utility is a permitted use on farmland. So a battery plant or a gas-fired power plant built to sell power into the market could argue it needs no public hearing, and its neighbours would have almost no room to appeal.
The bylaw doesn’t even define a battery facility or a power plant. That’s the gap we’re asking Council to close.
What we’re asking Council to do
- Close the “Public Utility” loophole.Battery storage, power plants and similar facilities that sell electricity into the market shouldn’t count as a “Public Utility” on farmland.
- Put these facilities on industrial land.Not beside homes, herds and creeks. Anywhere else should need a rezoning and a public hearing.
- Set clear distances from homes, water and livestock.The strictest should apply where animals can’t be evacuated: bison, feedlots, dairies, and hog and poultry barns.
- Require real emergency planning.That means direct alerts to nearby livestock owners, plus clean-up security so a facility is never abandoned on our land.
- Act before the applications arrive.Rules adopted first are the ones that count.
You can’t evacuate a herd in minutes
Fires at these facilities are rare. When they happen, the smoke moves in minutes. Bison aren’t cattle: they don’t load, they don’t herd, and a frightened herd can go through fences.
Emptying a feedlot or a dairy takes days and dozens of liner loads. Barns with ventilation fans pull smoke inside, and shutting the fans off harms the animals too. That’s why livestock need a setback of their own.
Why it has to happen now
The Commission listens to local rules
The Alberta Utilities Commission makes the final decision on these projects. It gives real weight to County bylaws already in place when an application arrives. In 2026 it turned down a 100 MW battery in Foothills County, citing that county’s land-use planning.
Three batteries are queued here
Warbler, west of Red Deer near Benalto, plus Siskin and Valley Edge east of Red Deer are on the provincial grid operator’s list right now. Across Alberta there are more than 300 proposed power projects.
Leases come first
Once a lease is signed and a project is filed, it’s very hard to stop. Clear rules make companies far less likely to offer leases where the County has said these projects don’t belong.
Neighbours, not a company
The Fence Line is run by Garrett and Theresa Watson, who farm near Benalto, with neighbours across the county. We’re not against energy, and we’re not tied to any company, party or the County. We’re for clear, fair rules, and for keeping you informed in plain language with the sources attached.
News from your own county, in plain language
What Council decided this week, and which projects moved near your land. Only your area, and only if you ask for it. Your information is never sold, rented or shared.