2015 FCM Sustainable Communities Award — Energy program
WINNER: Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
COMMUNITY EFFICIENCY FINANCING
Solar City
| Population: | Project duration: | Total project value: |
|---|---|---|
| 400,000 | March 2013–February 2015 | $8.3 million |
Homeowners in Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), NS, can take advantage of municipal financing through the Solar City program to install solar-powered water heating systems, lower their energy bills, and reduce water consumption. The municipality arranged over 300 system installations in the program's first 14 months — more than the rest of Canada that year — and aims to finance 700 systems within the first two years. Designed to be simple and create economies of scale, Solar City improves purchasing power and reliability, and offers quality assurance to citizens. The program includes education, free water conservation retrofits, an optional performance tracking system, and the first city-level solar "energy potential" map in Canada — an online resource that calculates annual solar energy potential for individual homes based on data collected through Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), a remote sensing technology.
Solar City's pioneering funding mechanism puts a new spin on Local Improvement Charge financing by offering Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans to individual homeowners to pay for equipment and installation. The loans are tied to the property and are paid back over time, while homeowners benefit right away from the energy savings. HRM is the first Canadian municipality to employ the PACE user-pay model to create a budget-neutral program that covers administrative and financing costs.
This initiative received support through FCM's Green Municipal Fund (GMF 12028).
Results
| Environmental | Economic | Social |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Challenges
- The project took two and a half years to launch, during which time there were municipal elections and senior management changes. Delays resulted in challenges with procurement and administration.
- There was no blueprint for the program's most innovative aspects, including its unique financing mechanism.
- When setting up contracts and managing legal risks, the municipality had to balance taxpayer and community interests (economic and environmental) with homeowner concerns, while keeping the paperwork simple and easy to understand.
Lessons learned
- Keep the program as simple as possible for homeowners and use a comprehensive approach that accounts for quality control, achieves economies of scale, and encourages high participation rates.
- Engage the public, municipal council and provincial departments early to create a shared program vision.
- Develop and implement the program within 18 months to capitalize on momentum and prevent barriers that may arise with an extended timeline.
Resources
Partners and Collaborators
- Thermo Dynamics Ltd.
- Doctor Solar
- Nova Scotia Department of Energy
- Dalhousie University
- Nova Scotia Community College
Project Contact
Julian Boyle
Manager Strategic Energy Policy and Initiatives
City of Halifax, NS
T. 902-476-8075
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