The solar farm at Big Lakes County (photo courtesy of Big Lakes County)

By Liam Verster

Solar Farm in Big Lakes County

Big Lakes County now running municipal buildings on solar power

Apr 10, 2021 | 6:00 AM

Big Lakes County has made the switch to solar power to generate electricity for its municipal buildings.

In December 2020, Big Lakes installed and started running a photovoltaic solar farm to generate electricity for the County’s main administration building and the public works shop.

The project was jointly funded by the Municipal Climate Change Active Centre’s (MCCAC) Alberta Municipal Solar Program, which covered $183,600, or 40 per cent of the cost to set up the solar farm.

The solar panels have a 25-year warranty, but the Chief Executive Officer for Big Lakes County, Jason Panasiuk, says most panels have a lifespan of closer to 30 years.

The panels will be able to generate 216 kW or 254,513 kWh per year. That will be enough to cover the costs of powering the buildings as well as send some power back into the grid, which will generate credits the County can use to offset costs in the winter.

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Panasiuk says through this model, it’s expected that the County will break even on this project in 13 years.

“So by year 14, this thing will have completely paid for itself and we’ll be getting free power from, we’re hoping, about year 14 to year 30, as a conservative estimate. We figured that would work out to be about $363,000 in profit, I guess, after the panels pay for themselves,” says Panasiuk.

He says there may be a little bit of maintenance required in those following years, but the County will essentially be getting free power for 16 years.

This project also aligns with Big Lakes County’s plan to reduce 25 per cent of its corporate emissions, and Panasiuk says this will meet around a quarter of that goal.

The MCCAC says this running these panels will equate to the reduction of 145 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, which is the same as removing 40 vehicles from the road each year.

Project Lead for the MCCAC, Marc Baxter says Alberta is a world leader in solar power, even when the cold winter weather is in play.

“We get lots of sunshine, even in our winter, which I’m sure you know. The snow does have a slight impact on their efficiency, but it’s really actually quite negligible,” says Baxter.

Baxter points to a study done by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) that reviewed the impact snow had on power generation from 12 solar modules in Edmonton over the course of five years. The study found that, even with snow buildup, the solar panels only lost about three per cent of their output capability in the winter.

Baxter adds snow typically melts quite quickly off the panels, and they’re installed at a 45-degree angle to prevent much snow buildup in the first place.

Big Lakes County’s solar panels have been fully operational for nearly four months, and they will review the output of the solar farm in the near future.

The MCCAC is a collaborative initiative of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Rural Municipalities of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta.