“Council and Administration are very happy and so grateful that the Ryley Solar Project built by Dandelion Renewables could move forward with such little Village tax money. We are also delighted that it will bring in extra money for the future. This simply could not have happened without our strong local partnership with Claystone and AMSP Grant funding through the MCCAC”
Mayor Terry Magneson – Village of Ryley
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LIVE DATA AT DANDELION RENEWABLES
After hearing about community suggestions from our public survey in 2018 and looking at options and government funding, Council for the Village of Ryley resolved on December 17, 2019 to build a Solar Power Generator.
After hearing from residents again at the Open House on February 13, 2020, Council voted on February 18, 2020 to move forward with the project. Although there are a couple opponents to the project, Council felt there was overwhelming support for Ryley to go “NET-ZERO” on electricity consumption for all Municipal Buildings. This includes the Curling Rink, the Skating Rink and Shack, the Community Hall, the Main Administration and Public Works Buildings, the Lift Stations, and the Campground. “Net-Zero” means that our Solar Power Generator produces the same amount of solar electricity that we were previously drawing from carbon producing electricity. The final effect is that by producing our footprint worth of renewable electricity, we have reduced a “coal-burner” producing electricity elsewhere.
On Wednesday June 10, 2020 Ryley Mayor Terry Magneson, Deputy Mayor Cyndy Heslin, Counillors Brian Ducherer, Mathew Kowalski and CAO Glen Hamilton-Brown broke ground with Dandelion Renewables at the Solar Panel Project site located by the Ryley Lagoon.
The ground mounted panels are installed northeast of the Village on the east edge of the sewage lagoon. The Solar Power Array pushes the power it generates into the Fortis grid for credit against our municipal power bill. It will create enough power to offset all the power that all of the Municipal Sites use.
Our annual municipal electricity usage is approximately $14,000, so we should be realizing a power bill savings of this much. After paying $2,000 for annual maintenance on the site, additional revenue will be set aside to re-build the generator in 30 years. It is estimated that there will be a small ($2,000-$3,000) annual surplus after maintenance and saving for the rebuild. As the goal was to reduce greenhouse gases and we are now doing that, making a small profit while we are doing so is a great bonus!
Our solar power plant went live at noon on Wednesday September 23, 2020. Ryley is officially “net-zero”! This means all the power used to operate the Municipal Sites is offset by our solar power generator. The total project cost was just under $300,000.
The project was funded in part by the Alberta Municipal Solar Program from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre.
The AMSP provided more than 1/3 of this cost.
$65,000 from Claystone (formerly BMS) annual dividends was allocated to this project.
The Village of Ryley allocated $150,000 from Capital Reserves. Therefore, we purchased this Solar Farm for approximately 1/2 of the total $300K cost.
The Village of Ryley wishes to thank Dandelion Renewables for building the Solar Farm, the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre and Claystone Waste Limited for helping fund the project, Gradient Imaging for filming the process, and the people of Ryley for asking to go GREEN!
Promotional Video furnished by GRADIENT IMAGING, a Ryley Business