The design for Evolve and TransAlta’s proposed Tent Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (TM-PHES) project, which will repurpose the Tent Mountain Mine, a reclaimed legacy coal mine, located in the Crowsnest Pass, approximately 16 km west of Coleman. Photo from evolvepower.ca
Nicholas L. M. Allen
Mar 19, 2025
Company secures funding for litigation over coal asset expropriation
Evolve Power Limited has completed the sale of its power assets and is now solely focused on pursuing legal action against the Alberta government for what it claims is the de facto expropriation of its coal assets.
The company finalized the sale of its Evolve Battery Storage (EBS) business in November 2024 for C$250,000 and has now exited its interest in the Tent Mountain Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project (TM-PHES) in partnership with TransAlta Corporation.
The TM-PHES sale was finalized on Feb. 28, 2025, with Evolve receiving C$3.05 million after offsetting a C$558,685 project expenses loan owed to TransAlta. The company stated that exiting the project was necessary due to multiple regulatory changes in Alberta’s power market since mid-2023, which have made securing funding for the project unfeasible.
“This sale is in the best interests of shareholders, as the lack of funding to cover our share of project holding expenses was leading to further dilution of our ownership in the asset,” CEO Peter Doyle said in a shareholder update.
Alongside this transaction, Evolve renegotiated a C$2.5 million liability with Westmoreland’s subsidiary Prairie Mines & Royalties ULC, reducing the amount owed to C$1.1 million and fully satisfying all outstanding payment obligations from the original 2016 purchase agreement for Tent Mountain.
With its power assets sold, Evolve has turned its full attention to its lawsuit against the Alberta government, which alleges that recent policy changes amount to the expropriation of its coal assets. The company is seeking C$500 million to C$550 million in damages for the loss of its Chinook Project and other holdings.
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 28, 2025, and will run for six months through to the end of October 2025.
In January 2025, Evolve received the Alberta government’s expert witness reports, which responded to the valuation presented by the company’s own experts in July 2024. Evolve’s legal team is currently preparing its reply submission, due one week before the trial begins.
The lawsuit centres on the Alberta government’s evolving coal policies, particularly the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative (CIMI), announced on Dec. 20, 2024. This initiative introduced new rules that:
• Prohibit mountaintop removal mining
• Ban new open-pit coal mines in the Alberta foothills
• Increase coal royalties
While the Minister of Energy and Minerals, Brian Jean, issued a Ministerial Order in January 2025 directing the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to lift the suspension on coal exploration and development permits, the CIMI guidelines prevent open-pit mining, which Evolve argues is the only economic way to develop its coal assets.
The company maintains that this amounts to expropriation, as it renders the coal deposits economically unviable. In a December 2024 press conference, Minister Jean stated that “the government cannot expropriate freehold coal rights without paying fair compensation to the owners of those property rights.”
Evolve’s legal efforts appear to be gaining traction. The Alberta Court of Appeal recently ruled that former Energy Minister Sonya Savage must appear for questioning, allowing Evolve’s legal team to probe the policy decisions that led to the coal expropriation.
In late February, the Alberta government informed the court that it had retained external counsel, a move that Evolve interprets as an acknowledgment of the seriousness of the lawsuit.
“With the Premier addressing the lawsuits in the press, the Minister of Energy issuing Ministerial Orders to try and diffuse the lawsuits, and then electing to change legal teams, it is clear our pressure is affecting them,” Doyle stated.
Evolve has confirmed that, with proceeds from the TM-PHES sale and support from its litigation funders Wahl Citadel, it is fully funded to pursue its claim against Alberta without distraction.
While the company remains committed to seeing the case through in court, Doyle indicated that Evolve is open to a fair settlement if the government is willing to compensate shareholders appropriately.
Evolve Power Limited has said they will continue to provide updates on the litigation and any settlement discussions as the trial approaches.
