Starland’s innovative approach to solar is seeing more farmers taking advantage of the new technology decreasing their footprint and eventually saving some money.
Last Friday the County celebrated its success at the Raugust farm. The County had set a goal of getting buy-in from 10 farms to install a 10-kilowatt solar system. Economic development officer Jordan Webber indicated they have reached that goal. This has made the county a leader in bringing this new technology to life.
“We are here to celebrate what we have done over the last 18 months in Starland County. 10 years ago Starland County had the vision to use alternative energy to provide their municipal operation with sustainable power that also hedged against inflationary electricity costs,” said Webber. “Through the successes of that program, they said we need to engage our community so we can all benefit from the success that alternative energy brings.”
With the support of the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre and Bullfrog Power, Starland County was able to pay 50 cents per watt of installed solar photovoltaic arrays to a maximum of $5,000. Starland County was also able to support product sourcing, cost reduction and the grid connection process.
They invested $50,000 through these partnerships, which leveraged more than $300,000 from farmers and residents who bought in and installed arrays.
Daryl Raugust can now look at his cell phone and quickly assess whether he is producing power or if he is using power, and, in real time. The system is connected to the Alberta power grid, and when he is producing more than what he is using, it is stored on the grid and he is able to draw upon it at a later date, when he is not producing as efficiently.
“We are pretty excited about it, we haven’t been going a year yet, so when we get a full year under our belts, we’ll see how it is really going to go,” said Raugust.
Through individual projects like this installation on the Raugus farm, Webber said they are approaching 200 kilowatts of power generation.
“I have been told by multiple people this means Starland County has the largest photovoltaic capacity per capita in Canada,” said Webber.
“While it can’t be verified, we know that Starland County is definitely a leader in solar electricity.”
