CLIENT: Elemental Energy
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
PRI Engineering provided geotechnical engineering services in support of the Brooks II Solar Project, a 32.8 MWp (26.5 MWac) utility-scale solar farm developed by Elemental Energy in Newell County, Alberta. Located adjacent to the existing Brooks I facility, the project spans 88 hectares and comprises 73,268 bifacial solar panels on a ground-mounted single-axis tracking system, connecting to the local distribution network via two 25 kV Fortis interconnections. PRI’s engineering scope supported the successful delivery of a facility that has been supplying clean, renewable electricity to the Alberta grid since 2022.
CHALLENGE:
Engineering a foundation solution across a 220-acre solar installation in the Alberta prairie environment presented a demanding set of technical challenges. The sheer scale of the project, with nearly 73,000 panel foundations distributed across privately owned agricultural land, required a thorough understanding of subsurface conditions to inform a foundation approach that was both structurally reliable and constructible at volume. Alberta’s climate introduced a further critical constraint: the region’s freeze-thaw cycles and susceptibility to frost heave in native soils posed a direct risk to foundation stability, panel alignment, and long-term structural performance. Any foundation system would need to resist seasonal ground movement across the full footprint and over the operational life of the asset.
APPROACH:
PRI conducted geotechnical investigations to characterize subsurface soil conditions across the project site, providing the data necessary to underpin sound foundation design decisions. Drawing on those findings, PRI developed specialized foundation designs specifically configured to mitigate frost heave risk in Alberta’s native soils, ensuring that the racking and panel support structures would maintain structural integrity and alignment through repeated seasonal freeze-thaw cycles. PRI’s engineering work was closely coordinated with the overall project layout, accounting for the single-axis tracking system’s load and geometry requirements across the full 88-hectare footprint.
OUTCOME:
PRI’s geotechnical and foundation engineering contributed to the successful construction and commissioning of Brooks II, which has been operational since 2022. The frost-resistant foundation solution delivered by PRI provides long-term confidence in structural performance across one of Alberta’s larger utility-scale solar installations. The project builds on PRI’s established expertise in prairie solar development and reinforces the firm’s capacity to deliver practical, site-specific engineering solutions at utility scale in the Canadian prairie context.