Courtesy NB Power
Construction of a community solar farm in Shediac is expected ramp up this spring following some site work in 2020.
The 1.8 megawatt facility with large-scale battery storage will be the first of its kind in New Brunswick.
The $90 million federally-funded project involves several partners including NB Power and Siemens.
Brent Staeben, NB Power’s director of Smart Grid Atlantic, says the solar farm will be directly connected to the power grid and provide green energy to the Shediac Multipurpose Centre and the Government of Canada Pension Centre.
Staeben says the solar farm will help Siemens create new technology for power utilities.
“It’s really about the future of green energy, how it’s connected to the grid and to solve the problems that green energy brings to a grid that was never designed for it in the first place.”
The solar farm could eventually produce enough energy to power 100 homes for a year.
Staeben says this is a leading project for the Town of Shediac which has a vision to be a smart energy community.
“It’s their vision that has allowed NB Power to really get down in the community and figure out how we can work together to deploy these technologies and test them there locally.”
Staeben says a residential study is also underway in Shediac in which 500 homeowners had smart meters installed and some will even receive rooftop panels and batteries.
While this technology is common elsewhere in the world, Staeban adds it’s still relatively new but growing in Atlantic Canada.
Located on Lino Road in Shediac just off Highway 15, the solar farm site will have an information kiosk so residents can learn more about the project.
