Edmonton building Canada's largest rooftop solar array

Solar panels at EXPO Centre The Edmonton EXPO Centre will soon be home to Canada's largest solar panel array. Joe Scarpelli has the details.

Edmonton will soon be home to the largest rooftop solar array in the country.

The city is installing panels on the roof at the Edmonton Expo Centre.

Phase 1 of the $5.03 million project will include the installation of 5,754 solar panels across 193,735.5 square feet above Hall D through H.

“With over 2,300 hours of bright sunshine every year, Edmonton is a city made for solar energy,” said Pascale Ladouceur of the City of Edmonton.

“The electricity generated here will be equivalent to the electricity consumed by 375 residential homes.”

The city believes the energy generated will yield operational savings of $290,000 to $460,000 per year.

“Anytime we can save money through our operations by having to spend less money to run this facility, it’s more money we can reinfect into Edmonton’s economy,” said Melissa Radu of Explore Edmonton.

And Radu says while you won’t be able to see the panels, they’ll still be a tool for attracting business.

“Major international events, we know that they want to host their gatherings in cities that are demonstrating environmental sustainability and leadership in innovative technologies, so our rooftop installation allows us to attract more of those events.”

The panels are expected to last about 25 years, and will yield a payback between 10 and 17 years with energy prices and whether energy consumption aligns with generation.

Construction is expected to be complete in November.

The Edmonton EXPO Centre will remain open during construction.

Phase 2, which has not yet been approved, would see additional panels installed above Hall A through C, adding a production of about 1.9 gigawatts to the system.

The additional cost would be $3.4 million, with savings of about $185,000 to $300,000 per year.

This is one of 11 solar projects currently underway in the city with a goal of increasing energy efficiencies.

There are currently six city-owned solar arrays operating in Edmonton. The others are Queen Elizabeth Pool, the Meadows Fire Station, Jasper Place Fire Hall, Blatchford DESS, Davies Garage, and the Edmonton Convention Centre.

With files from CTV News Edmotnon's Joe Scarpelli.