Calgary getting energized with solar power
Latest project at the Southland Leisure Centre the largest initiative so far
Mayor Naheed Nenshi stood on top of the Southland Leisure Centre on Tuesday in front of 600 solar panels to unveil the city's largest solar electricity system, and its plans for even more panel-mounted rooftops.
"This one's big, but we wanted to really start with a splash at a wave pool to get a sense of what can work," said Nenshi as he paused to smile and reflect on the location of this announcement.
The solar electricity system comes at an initial cost to the city of $380,000, but Nenshi says it should pay for itself in 14 years with an annual savings of between $25,000 and $35,000 in energy bills.
"As technology behind photovoltaic cells changes, as storage technology changes, we are going to learn a lot here to become even more efficient in the use of solar energy," said Nenshi.
According to John Rilett with Enmax, solar technology has already come through a major revolution over the past 10 years.
Higher efficiencies and lower costs
"What you would have paid 10 years ago for a kilowatt of solar, today would cost you about 70 per cent less," said Rilett.
Officials are now looking for other city-owned rooftops to transform, both on existing buildings and on new builds, as they try to save money and the environment.
"Some really good examples include new recreation centres being built here in Calgary, new fire halls, (and) new transit garages," said Arsheel Hirji, leader of sustainable infrastructure at the city's engineering and services department. "As we build we want to make sure we are solar ready."
Nenshi says the Southland Leisure Centre will also act as a test site for future solar projects.
"If you think about all the space that's taken up in Calgary, both by city facilities and things like strip malls with large flat roofs, I thought this would be a very interesting experiment for us to figure out how you can put a large number of panels together and what will happen there," said Nenshi.
It's not the first time Calgary has gone green on a large scale. The city was the first in North America to have a wind-powered public transit system, which reduced CO2 emissions by over 56,000 tonnes in 2012.