Calgary shared housing community now generates more power than it uses through solar panels
Source: · CBC NEWS · | August 10, 2020
The shared housing community is one of the first in Canada to go solar
Solar panels now cover all of the community’s roofs, providing more electricity than the community needs. (Submitted by Lise Rajewicz)
A Calgary cohousing co-operative is celebrating an important milestone in its history: finally going solar.
The Prairie Sky Cohousing Co-operative, situated in Winston Heights in northeast Calgary, just turned 16 years old.
It consists of 18 townhouses facing into a common courtyard and community garden, creating a tight-knit and sustainable community.
The communal living space consists of a kitchen, dining room, lounge, children's play room, teen room, laundry, guest room, office, studio, workshop and storage.
The new solar project, which was 2½ years in the making, means the community now generates all of its energy needs, meeting one of its long-held guiding principles of environmental sustainability.
"Having solar was always part of the dream," said one of the project's driving forces, Lise Rajewicz.
"But back then, it was very expensive for the community. But as costs have come down, we realized now was a chance to revisit this possibility," she said.
Rajewicz got together with two neighbours to finally push the project forward, joining forces with Alberta's SkyFire Energy to carry out the installation.
"Although solar is a drop in the bucket to address climate change, we think it's a really important symbolic move to show it's important to take action no matter how big or small it might be," said Rajewicz.
Rajewicz says the project wasn't without its challenges.
"There was a complex metering system and that was a challenge to work through, but we were able to come through that. There was also the buy-in from the community," Rajewicz said.
She says they received a grant from Energy Efficiency Alberta, under the previous NDP government, to bring solar education workshops to their community to learn about the technical specifics of solar, along with the various social and environmental arguments for making the jump.