Our second installation is a partnership with the City of Saskatoon at their Landfill Gas Generation Station. Together we have developed a ground-mounted solar installation to help power the Landfill Gas Generation Station.
Since 2011 the City of Saskatoon has been recovering methane gas at the landfill and turning it into electricity, thereby saving 45,000 tonnes of green-house-gas equivalents annually. This form of energy production operates day and night, 24/7. The solar project adds clean energy for operating the facility; powering the gas compressors, coolers, gauges, lights and computers.
With this project the SES Solar Co-operative Ltd. becomes a partner in a state-of-the-art integration of renewable energy production methods. The installation consists of 80 polycrystalline solar panels installed by Rock Paper Sun Ltd. SES Solar Co-operative Ltd. and the City of Saskatoon each own 40 of them. Each panel has 345 watts of capacity and each array has 13.8 kW.
The panels are mounted on a racking system that extends about 13 feet into the air. Half of the panels are at a fixed angle of 45 degrees and half will be seasonally adjusted from 30 to 45 to 60 degrees.
On top of the methane capture, the solar side of the Landfill Project includes a research capacity to explore the efficacy of converting sunlight to electricity by different means at the 52 parallel, monitoring the output of the solar panels at varying angles to the sun. The City of Saskatoon gathers detailed data on the performance of all the solar panels on the site and shares this information with SES Solar Co-op and with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.
February 2017
began producing power
80
panels
13.8 kW
direct current generation capacity
12.9 tonnes
annual GHG offset
The SES Solar Co-op board has signed a 25 year agreement with the City of Saskatoon. Under the agreement the City will purchase the electricity generated by our solar panels and will use the electricity to help operate the Landfill Gas Generating Station. In addition to investments by our members, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society has generously assisted the SES Solar Co-op with the financing of this project. Our joint installation with the City will also benefit from SaskPower’s net metering program and rebate.
As well as the 80 solar panels in the ground mount installation, there are also two solar tracker systems on site. Each of these arrays has 3 Polycrystalline and 3 Monocrystalline Solar panels of 255 watts on tracking arms that rotate to follow the sun throughout the day. These panels are on loan from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and were installed by the City.
The Landfill Gas Generation Station is located just west of Circle Drive and just south of the Montgomery Place neighbourhood.
SES Solar Co-op Ltd.
SES Solar Co-op Ltd.
