By David Dodge
It has to rate as one of the coolest solar projects in Canada. We’re calling it Edmonton’s solar skydome.
Adam Yerenuk climbs the long series of stairs in Edmonton’s Shaw Convention Centre and as he turns to look back gestures with his arm and says: “This showcases solar’s beauty. Instead of solar being something that architects want to hide on the roof or out of the way. This this puts it at the front and center of what people want to look at.”
The conference centre is a glass bubble perched on the banks of the beautiful North Saskatchewan River valley. Yereniuk’s company, Kuby Renewable Energy installed 700 translucent solar modules on the roof of the building.
As you look up the sun streams through the solar modules. It’s quite striking.
Largest building-integrated solar system
This is the largest building integrated installation of semi-transparent solar glass units in Canada. The glass modules “are roughly two inches thick. It’s a layer of solar cells sandwiched between two thick pieces of glass. Each one weighs about 300 pounds,” says Yereniuk.
The modules had to be craned onto the roof in the dead of Edmonton’s winter, a “very cold winter in Edmonton.” Glaziers installed and sealed the glass modules and then Yereniuk’s crew connected the modules to inverters that feed the electricity to the building and the grid.
It’s a 170-kilowatt solar system, not particularly large by any standard, but it is one of the most artful solar installations we’ve seen at Green Energy Futures. The system will generate about 200,000 kilowatt hours per year. This architectural type of solar is not cheap, but in spite of that the system will still pay for itself in about 22 years.
Compare this to small solar projects we’ve heard about that are being installed at record low prices of between $1.50 and $2.50 per watt. Utiliyt scale wind and solar are now the cheapest ways to produce electricity.
Solar Art in Morse Code
Artful indeed. As we hop into the conference centre’s glass elevator, Yereniuk points to the glass solar roof as the elevator begins descending. There is a large open circle in the middle of the solar roof. In the circle is a strange pattern of solar cells.
“Behind me now is a poem written out in Morse code from former Edmonton poet laureate E.D. Blodgett. The poem is written in non-active PV cells that form this circular shape that you can see from the inside and the outside.
Gifts from a River is an eight-line poem by E.D. Blodgett that was originally commissioned as a series of poems that were installed on poles in Louise McKinney Park in Edmonton. It is also part of a book Poems for a Small Park.
The poem in Morse code is visible from inside the building and from a distance when you look at the building.
Not only is this project pretty cool, Yereniuk thinks the project will bring a lot of attention to solar.
“This is a very high-profile building,” says Yereniuk. “There’s thousands of people that come through here every week. And this really showcases some of the capabilities and unique architectural features of solar power.”
As cool as this project is it’s not the only super cool project Yereniuk’s young solar company has done.
Kuby also did the amazing 1.6-megawatt solar system on Red Deer College and the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre in Alberta. Along with a 1-megawatt co-generation unit the college produces an amazing 66 per cent of its electricity using onsite generation.
Some people like the rather industrial look of conventional solar modules which are normally black or blue surrounded by aluminum frames. But this architecturally integrated solar installation brings a whole new aesthetic to the idea of solar in architecture.
The convention centre was still closed due to COVID-19 when we did this story. You can see the system from almost anywhere in the river valley, but to appreciate it be sure to walk down the stairs next time you visit the Shaw Convention Centre in Edmonton. Kuby Renewable Energy worked with DIALOG Design, Bird Construction, Howell-Mayhew Engineering and River City Electric on this solar power installation.