Claresholm Town Council is moving forward with a solar project to offset the cost of utilities for the arena.
The roughly $513,000 Solar Photovoltaic System project was approved during the April 28 Regular Council Meeting.
In the spring, the town requested companies to submit project proposals.
The town received 15 submissions for both large microgeneration systems and micro microgeneration systems.
Abe Tinney, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), recommended that the council go with the smaller project to be eligible for Solar Club pricing.
“The estimated payback years are much less, and the annual savings are much larger. Potentially completely offsetting the arena’s electricity bills and consumption,” Tinney said. “It costs more to get more electricity offset. The more expensive project will yield more benefits.”
The project was awarded to D-Com Energy Solutions.
Provincial grant funding is available, which could reduce the project cost by 30 per cent.
“If we're not successful with the funding, we can cancel the project,” Tinney said.
The next step is to complete a structural assessment of the arena roof to begin the grant application.
“We’re a pretty pragmatic council, and we haven’t done a great number of renewable initiatives in our term,” said Councillor Rod Kettles. “This is an opportunity for us to move down that path.”