Edmonton: Sunvault Energy Inc. and Aboriginal Power Corp (APC), an incubation company for Sunvault Energy, announced April 11 that they have entered into an agreement to acquire a 25% stake in Slatchinum Development Corporation (SDC) and to construct and operate what it says will be Canada's first self-sustainable community and British Columbia's largest solar park.
SDC has started work on the 200 home Subdivision within the City of Kelowna, BC, located next to Winfield, BC on Okanagan Band Land. Sunvault Energy will be installing 200 of the new Edison "Always On Energy Bank" Storage System, one for each home, along with solar arrays. Each home will have a 12 kWh EESD – Electric Energy Storage device installed to harness the energy generated at the community.
The partnership will also construct an anaerobic digester facility that will take all organic waste from the 200 home community and turn that waste into energy to power the homes. Combined with 1.2 MW of PV panels installed on the homes' roofs, it will make the community the first self-sustainable community in the country as far as power is concerned. All homes will also have Solar Water heat options and a grey water system. The PV systems will also make it the largest solar project in British Columbia. In addition to the Power supplied to the community, SDC will also put in its own water system to serve the community.
Custom Built Homes in the community are to be sold to the owners and the land will be leased for 49-years with an option for a second 49 years. This ownership and lease structure has been done on other First Nation properties and is quite common for financing these structures for homeowners. One of the big benefits to home owners is it allows for a much lower cost of entry point for home owners because there are no large up front land costs. The company has identified two local prefab home builders that can build these highly efficient custom homes at a rate of 4 homes per day.
From a revenue standpoint, SDC will earn approximately $140,000 per year from the water system. Sunvault will earn its share from this site approximately $350,000 – $400,000 per year revenue on power usage as a Green Renewable Energy Utility provider. The SDC property lease revenues will be approx. $700,000 per year. Sunvault's gross revenues from the Solar and the Edison Systems installation will be approximately another $3.7 million dollars.
The development will have access to the standard electric grid supply for those who would want to make that choice. SDC also intends to negotiate with other providers, such as Satellite, Cable, Telephone and Internet to ensure that the community can provide a full range of common services under one billing arrangement.
Elsewhere in Canada a number of builders, including Mattamy Homes, have begun marketing a line of new homes with power generation included, known as “net zero homes.” In Japan, where the electricity market has recently opened to full retail competition, builders expect to market new homes with solar generation and electrical storage built in.