Solar carport at Victoria Sports Park in Raymond. (Supplied by Town of Raymond)

By David Opinko

With installation of solar carport, Raymond claims it’s officially “net-zero”

Jun 28, 2019 | 12:21 PM

RAYMOND, AB – The prospect of never having to pay an electricity bill again is an exciting one for the Town of Raymond, especially if it means they can also reduce their environmental impact at the same time.

In late 2018, the municipality had 1,164 solar panels installed on top of its firehall, public works shop, pool, arena, Victoria Sports Park, golf course, and water treatment plant.

Phase two, explains Director of Community and Economic Development Greg Robinson says the dual-wings solar carport runs the entire length of the town’s football field at the Sports Park and collects energy both from the sun above and from the reflection in the ground below.

“This allows us to cover off all the electrical consumption from all of our street lighting and a few buildings that just didn’t work for our solar project, so it’s gathering quite a bit of solar electricity.”

While phase one did supply quite a bit of solar energy to the town, Robinson says the carport will finally push them to being fully net-zero – meaning that all of the energy used from municipal infrastructure will come from clean and renewable resources.

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The government told Lethbridge News Now back in December that the initial solar energy projects would generate 868.7 megawatt hours of electricity in its first year, while Robinson estimates that the carport will add another 419.

The Town of Raymond is looking into other “alternative energy projects” in the future to ensure businesses in the community can also be net-zero.

He says it should take around 10-15 years to pay off the leases for all of these facilities.

“Right now, it’s not bringing us money in, but it’s also not adding a lot of cost to our budget, but years from now, that’s going to be a project that’s going to pay back. That’s what our citizens and rate payers really see and get a grasp of and say we’re being really wise with our budget now.”

The town was able to take advantage of a $630,000 grant of the $2.9-million project through the Municipal Climate Action Centre, but Premier Jason Kenny said in his spring election campaign that he was looking at ending subsidies for solar and wind energy initiatives.

Even without funding from the province, Robinson believes that large-scale solar energy is something that a lot of other communities in Southern Alberta can take advantage of.

He adds that several municipalities from the area have already come to Raymond to take a tour of their solar facilities in hopes of potentially getting their own projects started down the line.