Summerside hopes to use solar energy to help power Credit Union Place

The City of Summerside is applying for discretionary use of a solar farm on the property of Credit Union Place.

At a special council meeting on Wednesday night, the city's community services department completed the first step in their application, presenting the application to the public.

JP Desrosiers, the director of community services for the City of Summerside, presented the plans for the solar panels.

Desrosiers said they are looking at taking some of the property to the north of CUP to use as a solar farm and for battery storage. The plan would be to use some of the green space behind Credit Union Place and some space in the overflow parking lots next to the volleyball courts, an area that has about 110 of the centre's 816 parking spots.

Desrosiers said they had looked at using the roof of C.U.P. which would be good for space, but engineers said the weight was too big a risk.

Greg Gaudet, the director of municipal services, said the space used will be mostly in the green areas. He said they would have to relocate one or both of the volleyball courts to make room.

Concerns about parking

Coun. Bruce MacDougall, chair of the technical services committee, told the council they sent out 71 letters to property owners in the 60-metre buffer zone around the whole space, who would be most affected by the changes.

Barry Ford, a Summerside resident who lives around the corner from CUP  was the only community member at the meeting. 

He said he had concerns about losing parking spaces.

"The parking problem around there, around the west end, is pretty bad now when there's events going on. There's cars parked on both sides of Rufus Street, legally. There's no sidewalks on Rufus Street, there's none on Sheen Street, there's none on North Market. It's a residential area and it's a problem," Ford said.

Desrosiers showed a possible solar panel that can be parked under, and said with something like that, they might only lose 10 spots or less of the total 110 in that area.

"With that design, certainly our goal is to mitigate the loss of as much parking as possible," he said.

Ford said the solar panels look like they would be difficult to clear snow from, and Coun. MacDougall agreed that would have to be looked at.

Although he had some concerns, Ford said he likes the idea of a solar farm.

Potential for 30% green power at CUP

Gaudet said it's difficult to have a clear estimate on costs right now because the costs of solar panels have changed so much recently. He said generally speaking, the panels could cost between $1.2- 1.5 million. He said that's $2.40/watt, and overall this project would be about 600 kilowatts.

There will also be the battery system aspect of the project, and Gaudet said there is no estimate for that right now.

Mayor Bill Martin said this initiative is part of a bigger plan.

"Our long term plan is to have somewhere in the neighbourhood about a 15 megawatt solar farm," said Martin.

"Obviously it won't be located anywhere near downtown Summerside, but it will be connected to our grid system, which would get us up to about 70 per cent green energy."

Martin believes this initial project will be in the works next year.

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