The City of Airdrie and ENMAX announced on Feb. 11 the completion of the City’s second rooftop solar panel installation.
The new solar panels – of which 1,024 were installed – were placed atop Airdrie’s Transit Storage and Maintenance Facility, located in the northeast corner of the city on Highland Park Way.
“When we were going through the preliminary designs for the transit facility, there was a decision made to design the building for future solar installation,” said Glenn Archer, team lead with the City’s capital projects department. “When various levels of government encouraged solar installations, we decided to go ahead and get this install done.”
The project, according to Archer, cost a little more than $345,000 and was entirely covered by government grants.
He said the solar installation will save the municipality approximately $84,000 annually in energy savings and provide a yearly input of 412 Megawatts an hour, which equates to a return on investment in approximately 12 years.
According to a City press release, the panels will prevent the equivalent release of greenhouse gas emissions from 63 passenger vehicles over one year.
“If there is excess, it can go to the neighbour,” he said. “At the same time, it reduces emissions.”
The project took a little more than five months to complete and marks the City’s second rooftop panel installation. Previously, the City of Airdrie celebrated the installation of Canada’s largest municipal rooftop solar field in July of 2019, when Genesis Place Recreation Centre received an array of 3,800 panels.
In a statement, Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver said expanding access to public transit is a key objective of greenTRIP – the government program that helped fund the project.
“By investing in Airdrie’s Transit Storage and Maintenance Facility, we’re making it easier for Albertans to get where they need to go and are reducing congestion for everyone,” he said.
ENMAX’S acting director of energy solutions, Mike Tearoe, said the company is pleased to see continued investment in renewable energy from the City of Airdrie.
“We’re proud to continue to work in partnership with the City of Airdrie as they continue to steward climate leadership within Alberta,” he said in the press release.
In planning these types of projects, Archer said teams always talk about the return of investment on a product. He said the panels are guaranteed for 30 years.
“It doesn’t mean after 30 years they are no longer serviceable, it means they will reduce their efficiency by a certain amount,” he said. “We are still expecting they will be producing at about 80 per cent efficiency at that time. By that time, the system will have long since paid for itself.”
The City, according to Archer, is continuing to look at options and opportunities to invest in more solar projects.
“It seems like all levels of government continue to encourage renewable sources of power,” he said. “We will continue as a municipality to look into opportunities.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
