Carlyle's Built 4 Life Health and Fitness made the switch to solar panels earlier this year and although timing has prevented owner/operator Jenna Jensen from reaping the full benefit of a less expensive power bill yet, she says she's looking forward to the results of the upgrade to her premises.
“Everything here - the treadmills, the stair climbers, the ellipticals, the bikes, the hydromassage, the tanning beds - basically everything except the weight machines - are powered by electricity,” says Jensen.
“And we're open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so the lights are usually on 24/7, too,” she adds. “My power bill was ridiculous.”
“It was a big upgrade,” says Jensen of the 120 panel installation. “It covers much of the whole building. “It took a little under two days to install 120 panels and 2BGreen Solar from Regina and K2 Electric from White City did it in late August (2017).”
“Terry Rutten upgraded the breaker panel from a 200 amp panel to a 400 amp panel.”
“It was a big upgrade, but they were a great team and were really quick and efficent,” adds Jensen. “In just two or three days in August, it was fully operational and was hooked into the grid.”
In spite of the seamless installation, Jensen says it will be months until she sees a lower power bill
“Because it was (installed in) late August, I didn't bank very much energy,” she says. “The net metering contract is based on the premise that you accumulate and bank the sun's energy the next month and when it rolls over, you use the credit.”
“So I'll still be seeing a bit of a power bill and I won't really reap the benefits until spring 2018.”
“Right now in winter, I'm 50 percent for the season,” says Jensen. “That is 50 percent solar. This spring and summer, I'll hopefully be 100 percent and by the winter of 2018, I hope to have banked enough credits to be at 100 percent (solar).”
Jensen says the inspiration for making her five-year-old building solar-powered is her father, Larry Jensen.
“Dad has a big shop on our farm near Alida and he converted it to solar power,” she says. “Last spring, over Easter supper we talked and not long after that, I started getting the permits and paperwork in order with SaskPower.”
“It offers a lot of advantages,” says Jensen. “And of course, it's an environmentally-friendly, renewable resource.”
“I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in spring.”
