Loblaw states its $10-million, 7.5-megawatt rooftop solar task - anticipated to be completed in 2026 - at its circulation centre in East Gwillimbury, Ont., will be the country's largest.Supplied/ Loblaw Cos.

Ltd. Large-scale roof solar projects have yet to get widespread traction with Canadian developers.

Financing can be intricate and it can take some time for developers to gain returns on their investments, however new solar tasks are still being revealed, states Victoria Papp, senior director of method and innovation at BOMA Canada, a group representing Canadian structure owners and supervisors.

" Solar uptake in commercial real estate is still far from being a widespread practice throughout the industry, but it's certainly increasing," Ms. Papp states. "It can be challenging to retrofit structures that were never designed with photovoltaic panels in mind."

This month, the Canadian Renewable resource Association stated it's tracked more than $31-billion in financial investment in sustainable energy - such as solar and wind power sources - across the nation. A recently released report also discovered Canada's solar, wind and energy storage sectors have actually grown by 46 per cent over the previous five years, with 10,000 megawatts of new capacity expected to be linked by 2030.

As a comparison, almost 6,500 megawatts of solar energy - enough to power as numerous as two-million homes - was produced in Canada in 2022, according to the federal government.

Scaling solar across Canada

While national financial investment figures highlight solar's growing role in Canada's energy mix, some companies are taking the lead in scaling up projects of their own.

In late July, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. announced it's building what it says will be Canada's largest rooftop solar system setup at its brand-new circulation centre in East Gwillimbury, Ont., north of Toronto.

The $10-million, 7.5-megawatt project, anticipated to be completed in 2026, will cover the structure's roof with nearly 435,000 square feet of solar panels - about the size of 7 football fields. It's anticipated to produce 8.5-million kilowatt-hours a year, about a quarter of the needs of Loblaw's automatic distribution centre.

" The building itself is extremely energy-intensive due to the automation and refrigeration systems within," says Tom Marson, Loblaw's vice-president of building technology and energy. "The solar panel system will help us balance out energy usage in the building."

Great Circle Solar Management Corp. will be the contractor, owner and operator of the project and offer the power to Loblaw under a long-lasting arrangement. The task is the biggest of almost 60 rooftop solar efforts in which the two companies have partnered in the previous ten years.

" Power from the solar panel system on the roofing system is fed straight into the electrical rooms of the facility and utilized to straight power the site's operations in East Gwillimbury," says Clarke Herring, Great Circle Solar's CEO.

Meeting business climate targets

Commercial distribution centres are not the only kinds of residential or commercial properties installing large-scale solar jobs. In Waterloo, Ont., Conestoga College set up a 1.3-megawatt solar photovoltaic system at its Kitchener-Doon school. The system, which went live in 2023, generates about 1.6-million kwh of renewable, clean energy a year, enough to power a minimum of 40,000 homes.

The system, which spreads out more than 3,000 photovoltaic panels over the roofs of a number of buildings, helps Conestoga satisfy 15 per cent of its yearly electrical energy requirements and offset peak demand from the traditional grid by 57 percent.

" We're devoted at Conestoga to supporting Canada's clean growth and climate-change goals for a more sustainable future," states Tim Schill, the college's vice-president of facilities and capital development. "This project is a considerable step forward in helping in reducing [greenhouse gas] emissions and promoting sustainable stewardship of our environment and resources."

Ontario's Conestoga College has established a 1.3-megawatt solar photovoltaic system at its Kitchener-Doon campus that produces about 1.6-million kilowatt hours of renewable, tidy energy a year.Supplied/ Conestoga College

Loblaw says among the reasons for installing solar panels at its circulation centre is to help fulfill the company's net-zero emissions decrease targets.

" We're intending to achieve net zero for our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2040," Mr. Marson states. Scope 1 emissions are produced directly from sources owned or managed by a company, while Scope 2 emissions represent those produced from the generation of acquired electrical energy that's consumed by the company or organization.

" Procuring and consuming sustainable energy on residential or commercial properties where high amounts of energy is taken in is an important action for us," Mr. Marson says, adding it's especially crucial for Loblaw, considering that the company interacts with customers daily.

" We run countless shops all across the country, which suggests we are deeply woven into the fabric of the neighborhoods we serve," he says. "Countless day-to-day customers and our 220,000 colleagues and staff members expect us to lead."

According to Mr. Marson, Loblaw initially set carbon decrease targets for its corporate shops in 2016, and it fulfilled those years ahead of schedule. "We reset our baseline in 2020, and included franchise stores and Shoppers Drug Mart areas. Since then, we have actually minimized our carbon footprint 16 percent and continue to make substantial development."

Finding the best financing

Mr. Schill states building little and medium-sized solar projects, such as Conestoga's, can be tough since of problems protecting financing, along with moving policies and incentive programs.

" Until just recently, it was much easier to get beneficial government-backed funding if you had a $100-million project," he says. The relocation by Prime Minister Mark Carney to scrap the out of favor federal carbon tax was an obstacle due to the fact that the tax had made using gas more pricey and solar energy more appealing, he includes.

Mr. Schill is encouraged by recent relocations such as the brand-new $100-million collaboration between the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Scotiabank, which aims to help owners retrofit little and mid-sized commercial structures.

Ali Hoss, head of sustainability and ESG at Colliers Canada, says the nation can benefit from relocations in the United States to cease solar-power incentives.

" Investors in the U.S. should now price-in high political danger," he says. "Canada, by contrast, has broad, multi-party support for sustainability. This predictability is a vital benefit for bring in the long-lasting, patient capital needed genuine estate and infrastructure jobs like solar."

Great Circle Solar's Mr. Herring concurs. "Going solar supplies an important long-lasting fiscal hedge against unsure future electricity costs."

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