Calgary getting energized with solar power

Mayor Naheed Nenshistoodon top of the Southland Leisure Centre on Tuesdayin front of 600solarpanelsto unveilthe city's largest solar electricity system, and its plans for even more panel-mounted rooftops.

"This one's big, but wewanted to reallystart with a splash at a wave poolto get a sense of what can work," said Nenshi as hepausedto smileand reflect on the location of this announcement.

The solar electricitysystem comes at an initial cost to the city of$380,000, but Nenshi saysit should pay for itself in 14 yearswith an annualsavings of between $25,000 and$35,000 inenergy bills.

"As technology behind photovoltaic cells changes, as storage technology changes, we are going to learn a lot here to become even more efficient in the use of solar energy," said Nenshi.

According to John Rilettwith Enmax, solar technologyhas already come through a majorrevolution over the past 10years.

Higherefficiencies and lower costs

"Whatyou would have paid 10years agofor a kilowatt ofsolar, todaywould cost you about70 per centless," said Rilett.

Officials are now looking for other city-owned rooftopsto transform, both on existing buildings and on new builds,as theytryto save money and the environment.

"Some really good examples includenew recreation centres being built here in Calgary,new fire halls, (and) new transit garages," said Arsheel Hirji, leader of sustainable infrastructure at the city'sengineering andservices department."As we build we want to make sure we are solar ready."

Nenshi saystheSouthland Leisure Centre will also act as a test sitefor future solar projects.

"If you think about all the space that's taken up in Calgary, both by city facilities and things like strip malls with largeflat roofs, Ithought this would be a very interesting experiment for us to figure out how you can put a large number of panels together and what will happen there," said Nenshi.

It's not the first time Calgary has gone green on a large scale. The city was thefirst in North America to have awind-powered public transit system, whichreduced CO2 emissions by over 56,000 tonnes in 2012.