Canada’s Saskatchewan Environmental Society Solar Co-operative Ltd has made proposals to Saskatoon city hall that could result in solar panels powering city buildings.
The co-op has written a letter to the city council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee outlining options for new projects.
The solar co-op already partners with the city on two projects and would like to install solar voltaic panels on unspecified city buildings. The letter suggests an option that would see the co-op install and own the solar panels and lease the project to the city for 25 years.
“Our goal is to simply to accelerate the adoption of solar power in our community, using locations that are economically viable for building/property owners,” says the letter, which was written by Peter Prebble, co-op president, and Jeff Montgomery, secretary and chair of the project committee.
“This can be a significant challenge, particularly given the limitations imposed by the current electricity rate structure and the need to budget significant upfront capital dollars for the installations.”
The co-op has already partnered with the city on a 30.6-kilowatt solar power generation site at the city’s landfill gas generation station and to power five electric vehicles with the Saskatoon Car Share Co-op.
According to the letter sent to the city committee, the SES Solar Co-op is run by an 11-member volunteer board and has 169 members. The co-op has invested in five Saskatoon solar installations comprising 456 solar voltaic panels that generate 137.5 kilowatts.
