Solar power on display: Brandon Riverbank launches major renewable energy project

The next time you visit the Riverbank Discovery Centre in downtown Brandon walk over to the south side of the building and look up!  There you will find Brandon’s largest solar panel array — the newest addition to the Brandon Riverbank, and something that is going to significantly cut costs for Brandon’s central park facility.

The system is large enough to power 7 homes, says Executive Director, Dean Hammond. “This 53-kilowatt system, on an annual basis will provide about 40% of our hydro needs here at Riverbank.”

The project was in collaboration with Sustainable Brandon, Climate Action Team Manitoba, Efficiency Manitoba, and Westman Solar Solutions. 

Installed, the system cost $165,000 but through a provincial grant, Sustainable Brandon and help from the Climate Action Team of Manitoba they brough that figure down by $50,000.

“So, we’re very thankful for that,” says Hammond. “And then another piece of the cost is that we received approximately $40,000 in solar rebates from Efficiency Manitoba.  So basically, we got the system for roughly half price, and the expected life of the system is 30 years or more,” he adds, “and the payback with those numbers will actually be very short, given how much power it will actually produce.”

It was very much a combined effort for this project to benefit the Riverbank, but it was also a great way to share more information on solar powered energy, says Hammond.

Originally, Sustainable Brandon reached out with the intent of establishing a demonstrator project in Brandon. While the project provides the benefits of solar energy, including cost savings and the opportunity to highlight efforts to reduce environmental impact, the primary goal from the outset was to serve as a demonstration.

The intent of the project was to show what solar power can achieve. If members of the public are interested in solar energy for their home or business, they can visit the Riverbank Discovery Centre, where staff will be trained to speak knowledgeably about solar power and its benefits.

“We’re proud to do that and we’re proud to be the space in Brandon where people can come to learn more about solar panel and see it in action. It would be really cool, and we have our monitor on the wall. You can see in real time what the system is doing,” he explains. “Oh, there’s a cloud coming. Let’s see what that does to the performance or the clouds going away. Let’s see what happens when the sun’s fully bearing down on the panels. It’ll be really cool!”

All our invited to the Riverbank Discovery Centre on April 22nd to learn how the Brandon Riverbank will utilize this system to become an educational hub for solar energy.

The Grand Opening will take place on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22.   Opening ceremonies will take place at 2:00 pm; but the come and go open house is from 1:30 – 4:30 pm.