Medicine Hat Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Demonstration Project

City of Medicine Hat


Project Type

Demonstration

Project Value

$13,200,000

Project Status

Complete

Location

Medicine Hat, AB

Funding Amount

$3,000,000

Medicine Hat’s vision is to be the ‘community of choice’ for more than 60,000 residents, numerous businesses and countless visitors. The city employs more than 1,200 people and has readily available natural gas resources, allowing the city to explore innovative solutions in the areas of wind power, solar heating, and a water aquifer to heat and cool homes.

The Medicine Hat Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Demonstration Project is the first of its kind in Canada and is intended to test the technology to see how it functions in our climate. Large curved steel panels reflect the sun’s rays to heat oil inside a metal tube. The oil then creates steam, turning a turbine at the nearby power plant.