When the facilities director at Laurier Heights Community League, George Stepney heard the Alberta Municipal Solar Program (AMSP) was winding down, he knew he needed to act fast!

Support from Community Members

George decided to bring the idea of a solar system to the board.

That’s after hearing that AMSP, an important funding program available through the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC), was in danger of running out of funding.

The board was enthusiastic about the idea and approved it immediately!

George told Michael the most helpful thing for managing the project was having board buy-in.

George started thinking about greening his neighbourhood’s facilities back in 2019 when he attended the EFCL’s Green Leagues’ workshops series Adapting to Climate Change, co-hosted with the City of Edmonton.

At that workshop, Laurier Heights won a free energy monitoring system from the EFCL which monitors their hall’s energy use directly from their electric panel and then provides a report.

When the EFCL arrived to install the monitoring system at Laurier Hall, George spoke with the Energy Transition Advisor, Michael Barnard and learned more about what Laurier Heights could do to green their hall.

The building was renovated five years earlier, and the new addition quite efficient already.

Going Solar

After getting several quotes and choosing an installer, the 40.8 kW roof-mounted solar system was designed and installed over the summer of 2020, and went live mid-September of that year.

The system is one of the largest installed at a Community League to date.

George acknowledges Laurier Heights is in a privileged position to be able to complete a project of this size. The cost paid by the League will be paid back in energy savings in about seven years.

After that, all the savings and money earned through selling electricity back to the utility company will be pure profit to the Community League.

Immediate Savings

While the system hasn’t been live long enough to tell for sure how it will operate, it’s expected to cover the League’s entire annual electrical needs.

At first, the system was only going to cover about 90% of their electricity use, but new solar modules (panels) came on the market when the system was being designed, and the solar installer, Generate Energy, was able to swap those into the design and now they had enough roof space to cover the full year’s electricity.

This is a great illustration of how fast the solar industry is advancing. George says the system is performing as expected so far.

In November, their bill was significantly lower than in previous years.

While the system didn’t produce much energy in December and January, the engineers at Generate Energy have assured the League this is typical for winter months.

George says they’re excited to see what happens in the summer months.

What next?

The League didn’t stop after installing the solar system.

Aligning with the goal of the Green Leagues program, they continue to encourage others in Edmonton to consider energy transition for their own homes, by:

• George giving a short speech about the solar system at a socially-distanced concert at the League in the fall where he gave thanks to the City of Edmonton and the MCCAC
• Laurier Heights League posts information about the project on the Next Door app
• shares details about the project in their newsletter, where they provide continuous updates about how the system is performing

George tells me there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback from the community.

Beyond Solar

Laurier Heights is not only concerned with solar energy.

They have also taken steps and have future plans to reduce the energy at their hall, by switching their rink lighting over to LED.

They discovered during hall closures due to COVID-19, the League found that their electrical use didn’t decrease as much as they expected.

They believe the outdoor rink lighting is the cause, so they plan to replace their outdoor lighting with LEDs in 2021. 

Sharing Learnings

The League plans to run a sustainability club for youths in their neighbourhood.

Community Members will get education around sustainable food and community gardening, solar energy, and more.