ST. ANDREWS: A local senior housing association celebrated the grand opening of a series of energy efficiency improvements highlighted by the installation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system.
As Harry Daemen sat in the front row of the presentation on a particularly hot Sept. 24, he thought to himself something he hasn’t thought of in a while.
“I wish that cloud would kind of just blow over in front of the sun,” Daemen said, to a roar of laughter from everyone in attendance. “That’s kind of been the reverse of my wish the last six months.”
Last year, St. Andrews Senior Housing Authority (SASHA), a 16-unit affordable housing complex in the village of St. Andrews, decided to proceed with Project Sunshine, which had two goals; to make the facility as energy efficient as possible and to generate renewable energy.
The 2020 St. Andrews Community Partnership Low Carbon Community (LCC) study, undertaken in conjunction with a Nova Scotia Energy and Mines support grant, identified SASHA as a major energy user in the community’s six partners participating in the project.
With the SASHA board of directors applying for an Efficiency Nova Scotia energy efficiency upgrade and increasing their attic’s insulation, installing nine new heat pumps, installing LED lights in all corridors, and installing thermostat and HRV controls, they reduced electrical energy consumption by a predicted 9,650 kilowatt hours per year, however, Efficiency Nova Scotia also supported a solar PV installation.
After awarding the project to Nova Sun Power from Pictou, SASHA installed a ground-mounted 30 kilowatt solar PV system, comprised of 84 425-watt bi-facial panels, calculated to offset an additional 45,000 kilowatt hours per year in the net-metering agreement.
“So that means 405-watts are created by the sunny side and up to another 20 to 25 watts are created by the back side. So it’s actually a two-sided panel,” Daemen said. “In March, I was quite shocked, with the reflection from the snow, if was really generating a lot more than I would have predicted.”
The system came online on March 10, 2021, and after six-months, SASHA had generated 29,000 kilowatt hours, which amounted to 64 per cent of the predicted annual output, had already saved 15 tonnes of carbon, expects the system would pay itself off in three years, and has a credit of over 5,500 kilowatt hours with Nova Scotia Power.
“When (SASHA) first approached the municipality to talk about their first project, we certainly saw the passion and we saw that this was driven by volunteers, as a municipality, how do you say no to that,” Warden Owen McCarron said. “It’s a true volunteer effort; it’s a true volunteer community.”
McCarron indicated the municipality is currently working on a pilot project on a variety of facilities in the county to see if they can introduce more solar into the communities to reduce the energy costs.
“To see the complete transformation from the heat pump installation to this solar installation, it really speaks to the progressiveness of our community,” McCarron said. “As the warden, I am really pleased, but as the councillor for this area, I couldn’t be prouder.”
He suggested St. Andrews is looked upon by many throughout the county as a leader and through the curling club, the community centre and expansions to the fire hall, in addition to SASHA’s solar project are all examples of proof that projects are getting done.
“How many communities of this size celebrate that? Not many,” McCarron said. “We believe we’re a pretty special spot, and we know we have a lot of great people, and today is truly a celebration of volunteers.”