Alta. oilfield town embraces 'the way of the future' by harnessing sun's power to cool its rink
A newly completed solar installation in Calmar, Alta., is ready to power the local arena.
Almost 11,000 square-feet of solar panels are now on the roof of the Mike Karbonik Arena in the town of 2,000 southwest of Edmonton. The 464 panels are expected to generate 165 megawatt-hours per year, about 98 per cent of the arena’s energy consumption, town officials say.
"Overall, we're anticipating at current electricity rates we'll be seeing a savings of about $5,000 a year. And we only expect that to go up as power goes up in price," councillor and deputy mayor Krista Gardner told CTV news Edmonton.
Calmar is in a partnership to provide recreational services to Leduc County residents as well. As such, the arena is one of the town's largest energy expenditures. Council expects to save $30,000 a year for the panels' lifespan of 25 years.
"The arena is a really important place in our community, and so to be able to make it more cost effective to run and more environmentally conscious is really just a win-win for us here," Gardner said.
The Town of Calmar installed 11,000 square feet of solar panels on the roof of the Mike Karbonik Arena in 2021, and expects to save $30,000 on electricity costs for the panel's 25-year lifespan.
'THEY'RE JUST UP THERE'
The panels constitute an investment of roughly half a million dollars in sustainable energy.
Their $158,000 installation was covered by a grant through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre, a body that receives provincial funding to help towns, schools and community organizations reduce emissions and energy costs.
The arrangement with ENMAX will see Calmar pay off the panels, which cost $380,000, over 15 years.
In the summer, when the arena's power draw is lower, the town will sell electricity generated by the solar panels back to the grid.
With maintenance provided by ENMAX, the setup has relatively little impact on operations, said Calmar's director of public works.
"They're really self sufficient. They're just up there and you don't look at them unless something goes really wrong," Ed Melesko commented.
A monitor will be set up in a common area so the public can see the array's output levels in real time.
"When I came, that wasn't even a dream that you would some day be doing that. You had your little solar powered things, but not to this level," Melesko said. "It's definitely the way of the future, though, from what I see."
Of course, he added, the bills will really prove the investment's value: "Next year will be the big test."
The Town of Calmar installed 11,000 square-feet of solar panels on the roof of the Mike Karbonik Arena. (Supplied)
REDUCING GRID RELIANCE
But both Gardner and ENMAX are confident the panels will turn out worth their price.
"We are one of the sunniest locations, certainly in Canada, and North America. You do get some snow coverage, but the panels are now designed so that they can still reflect some of the solar energy that's coming on even if they have winter coverage on it," ENMAX's vice president in trading, origination and commercial sales, Bruce Borwick, told CTV News Edmonton.
The company is currently working with some 40 municipalities on solar projects.
"We see that both the ability to manage your energy source and not be reliant on the grid is really strong for a municipality. It brings in investment and attracts attention. The other benefit is ... the carbon footprint of the town is reduced considerably."
Calmar is not just located in oilfield country, but surrounded by drilling sites.
Gardner said despite its legacy, the town is committed to sustainability and reducing its fossil fuel reliance.
"As we look toward the future, we think it's really important to take advantage of some of these new technologies and ways to see both cost savings for our residents, to update our facilities, and also to do some environmental changes," she said.
The town has already upgraded its street and arena lights to LEDs. It is looking at doing the same in its public workshop and considering installing electric vehicle charging stations.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between duelling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
WATCH Moose strolls through Fredericton
A Fredericton woman is awe-struck after seeing a moose stroll down a city street on Tuesday.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.