The London District Catholic School Board in Ontario is home to Canada’s first energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral school.
A special ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this week at John Paul II Catholic Secondary School (JP II) to mark the opening of the green energy project, which includes solar panels and Tesla battery storage system.
Built in collaboration with Ameresco, the school now features 2,700 covered carport solar panels. That is enough to generate 825kW of power which can be stored in the 2.2MWh of Tesla batteries also installed on site.
The entire project reduces the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to heat, cool, and provide electricity to the school to near zero.
It also removes approximately 277 tons of carbon each year based on analysis by Ameresco.
Not only is it good for the environment, it is also good for the school board’s bottom line. According to Ameresco, the project will deliver a 68% reduction in electricity costs, and also provide energy directly to London Hydro and the provincial grid.
The project cost a total of $9.7 million, with $4.5 million funded through Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program.
