Raymond, Alberta, a small town of about 4000 was the first municipality in Alberta to reach a status of net-zero electrical consumption. With critical support from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC), Raymond installed a total of $2.6M worth of solar panels over most town owned buildings and a parking lot, and powered up 729 kW of solar energy, virtually eliminating their municipality’s electricity bill and 534 tonnes of GHG annually in the process. Which simultaneously freed up significant resources to invest in other local priorities. With the help of MCCAC, the team educated themselves on the technology, leveraged grants, worked the math, took the proposal to council and got it approved, making Raymond the first to reach net-zero in the province.
