Saskatchewan-based wind and solar company, SaskWind are looking to change the way in which renewable energy is funded in Canada by following the success of a similar European community ownership model. Already around one-third of Saskatchewan is powered by renewable sources, but President of SaskWind, James Glennie feels this can be significantly improved and all while cutting costs and bring the community closer together.
While the majority of energy projects in North America are privately funded, this is not necessarily the best way to go about these things. Renewable energy projects in Germany, and other European countries have proved that successful businesses do not always have to have the backing of a multi-million dollar private investor who is only really interested in the profit that is being generated and not the energy. These companies have taken the support of the community in which to fund their projects.
By allowing individuals to invest in a project that is not only going to benefit yourself and your wallet but the county too brings a real sense of community spirit to the otherwise cutthroat world of business and makes a refreshing change. It is also much easier to draw people into the idea through the powers of the internet and get smaller individual investments rather than one lump sum. But even so, SaskWind will need to raise quite a large amount of funds if it does want the project to go ahead, and is currently estimating that it will need around $90 million to pay for the six wind turbines and 30,000 solar panels it intends to put to use. Spread over the 100-acre site; this facility could power as many as 12,000 homes per year.
As well as offering an attractive return rate for their investors, the creation of the renewable energy plant could create as many as 20,000 jobs for people in the Saskatchewan area. Investing in SaskWind is not like just investing in another tech company. It is a project that will be created by the people, for the people and will have a good impact on the community as it brings them closer to one another.
With a global shift to the use of renewable energy sources, this may be just the start of new community-based ventures coming to fruition. The electricity that is produced by wind power costs about half of what it would through the use of coal, so it is important that we support these use of these renewable energy methods if we want to see a healthier world, both physically and economically.
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