A map released by the provincial government outlines 82,000 square kilometres of “visual impact assessment zones,” where renewable developers will now have to prove to regulators that their projects don’t obscure scenic views. (The Logic)

Talking point: The guidelines come more than a year after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith promised to place restrictions on wind and solar development. The map, released Friday, also delineates about 60,000 square kilometres of “agriculture first” lands where cleantech developers will need to prove that their projects can coexist alongside agriculture producers before regulators approve them, and a roughly 70,000-square-kilometre “buffer zone” that outright prohibits wind development in the Rocky Mountains. Opposition to renewables has grown in many rural Alberta communities amid a rapid buildout of wind and solar capacity in the province.