REGINA -- Silver Sage Housing Corporation has installed 300 solar panels on the roof of one of its buildings.
The 110 kilowatt rooftop cost $370,000 and will offset 3,000 to 4,000 metric tonnes of carbon over a 25 year period.
Silver Sage said the power generated from the panels will reduce the overall utility costs of the building, which will one day mean lower living costs for its tenants. The housing corporation said solar panels are fitting to what this building represents.
"The name of the place being Pisimokamik which means sun lodge,” President and CEO of Silver Sage Housing Corportation, Maynard Sonntag said. “It’s just so fitting that we would have solar panels on a sun lodge so we're really excited about the official launch today."
miEnergy engineered, designed and installed the whole project. It said this solar panel project is the largest in Regina and one of the largest in the whole province.
It donated $25,000 towards this project as part of its miCommunity fund.
“We have a certain percentage of every project, we put aside to go towards projects that are kind of unique in that factor that have a community or a social aspect to them,” Solar Energy Advisor for miEnergy, Nathan Jones said. “Because of its housing for elders in this capacity and some of the other low cost housing was how this one was able to access that funding.”
The system is ready to go but it won't be online until SaskPower completes its final inspection, which should happen in the coming weeks.
