Ninety solar panels are almost ready to generate power on the roof of The Two Twenty building. In a few days, the largest solar power installation built to date in the Saskatoon Light and Power district will starting producing renewable energy.
The total solar installation has a capacity of 27.5 kilowatts.
The installation will meet a significant portion of the annual electricity needs of the building which is owned by Shift Development.
“I anticipate the system will produce approximately 33,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year and will meet about 40 per cent of electricity demand,” said Shift Development CEO Curtis Olson.
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On Tuesday, Bullfrog Power and SES Solar Co-operative announced the first solar investment co-operative in Saskatchewan.
By working co-operatively with the building owner to offset their power needs with renewable energy and to supply renewable electricity to the grid, Shift Development will pass the savings on its power bill onto SES Solar Co-op as a revenue stream.
“This SES Solar Co-op Ltd. solar system will be the equivalent of taking the greenhouse gas pollution from five cars off the road each year,” said SES Solar Co-op president Joe Schmutz.
Through an agreement between the two organizations, Bullfrog Power provided financing to help SES Solar Co-op build the second largest solar project in Saskatoon.
“Bullfrog Power will provide SES Solar Co-op Ltd. with $100,000 of construction financing, interest free loan which will be repaid as new co-operative members are given the opportunity to purchase shares in the co-operative,” said Bullfrog Power CEO Ron Seftel.
“The current economics of installing solar power in Saskatchewan are still challenging, as an insufficient value is attached to the production of low-emission electricity,” said Olson.
SES Solar Co-operative Ltd. was established by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society in early 2015. It’s an investment co-operative, which means that its members have purchased shares in the co-operative.
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