Selkirk flips switch on solar array

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This article was published 14/05/2019 (2383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK — Selkirk may be a small city, but when it comes to clean energy, it’s in Manitoba’s big league thanks to its rec centre.

On Monday, Mayor Larry Johannson flipped the switch on Selkirk Recreation Complex’s new 200-kilowatt solar energy system.

“It’s the largest rooftop solar panel array in Manitoba,” Johannson said at a press conference in the city of 10,278. In neighbouring Winnipeg, a city of 750,000, no city-owned property has anything nearly as large as Selkirk’s solar energy system, a city spokesman said Monday.

“We’re happy to be sucking up the sun’s energy — not just today, but for years into the future,” Johannson said, while there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Selkirk successfully applied for a $200,000 grant for the project from Manitoba Hydro’s two-year solar energy pilot program before it expired, Selkirk chief administrative officer Duane Nicol said, and the city covered the remaining $430,000. The solar energy will provide 16 per cent of the electricity needed by the large rec complex.

The system was installed by the Winnipeg firm Sycamore Energy Inc. The 676 solar panels — which will last 30 years and pay for themselves in 17 — are in an optimal place to soak up the sun, Nicol said. The south-facing panels are not obscured by any buildings or trees. A meter keeps track of how much solar and hydro power is used. Any extra solar power that’s produced will be sold back to Manitoba Hydro. Nicol said they’re saving on electricity and Hydro rates that are expected to continue to rise.

“It’s an investment in hedging against future electrical increases,” Sycamore Energy co-founder and CEO Justin Phillips said. “Rates are going up.”

The Manitoba Hydro pilot program helped boost solar energy in the province, and Phillips said Sycamore is working in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It has installed several 200 kilowatt solar arrays — many in agriculture — in addition to Manitoba’s largest rooftop solar panel collection in Selkirk.

Solar panels are not the only energy-saving feature at the city-owned complex, which opened in 1992 and has a 2,751-seat arena and a 500-person banquet hall. Selkirk has made several improvements to the complex in recent years, including geothermal upgrades to the ice plant to reduce energy bills.

“It’s making one of the largest rec centres almost completely off the grid,” Johannson said on Monday.

The upgrades to Selkirk’s rec complex are part of the city’s strategic plan, which is to provide the best recreational opportunities for its residents, take active management of Selkirk’s capital assets and firmer control of the city’s economic destiny, Nicol said.

Having the huge rec complex almost “off the grid” is also part of Selkirk’s emergency plan, Nicol said. It can serve as a refuge with its own electricity source if disaster strikes and people need to seek shelter.

Money saved on energy costs can be invested back into in the community, he said. As the rec centre’s energy bill shrinks, so does its carbon footprint. That’s something that makes the mayor of the little city north of Manitoba’s capital swell with pride.

“We are leaders in climate change adaptation,” Johannson said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca