Vancouver: Bullfrog Power, Canada's leading green energy provider, and Solshare Energy announced the launch March 30 of BC's first co-operatively owned community solar project. The project is located on the rooftop of the Vancouver Co-housing in East Vancouver, which is Vancouver's first co-housing site.
"The financial support we received from Bullfrog Power was an important factor in being able to move forward with the development of the first co-operatively owned community solar project," said Solshare Energy Co-Founder Rob Baxter. "Community ownership is important because it gives people the ability to support solar energy who otherwise cannot because they don't own a suitable house or cannot afford the up-front investment."
The 23 kW photovoltaic plant, recently installed on the roof of a multi-family residential complex in East Vancouver, officially began generating clean, pollution-free electricity at the end of January 2016. Bullfrog Power provided construction financing to complete the development, which allowed Solshare Energy to offer ownership in the completed project to local Vancouver residents. The project is one of the first leasing projects under BC Hydro's Net Metering Program.
On April 7 Bullfrog also announced a new partnership with Granville Island Brewing that makes Granville the first brewery in British Columbia to choose 100 per cent green electricity and 100 per cent green natural gas for its operations. The natural gas is sourced from a methane-capture project situated on one of Canada's landfills.
Last October, Bullfrog announced a partnership with the Kitasoo/Xai’Xais First Nation to develop the 23 kW Klemtu Solar Project on a school rooftop in Klemtu, located on British Columbia’s Central Coast. The power generated by the project will help the community to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels like diesel and to generate clean, pollution-free electricity.