ACOA provides $1.5M for Summerside solar energy project

The federal government has stepped in with some money for a large solar energy project on P.E.I.

ACOA is providing a grant of $1.5 million for a solar energy gathering and storage system at Credit Union Place, the major sports facilityin Summerside.

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The project will reduce the city's reliance on carbon-based energy production.

"The city of Summerside's Smart Storage demonstration project is an excellent example of the sort of innovative solutions that will drive our economy into the future," said Navdeep Bains, the federal minister responsible for ACOA, in a news release.

The total cost of the project has been previously estimated at $3 million, and the city has said it is willing to contribute $1.5 million, because it expects to save about $100,000 a year in energy costs.

The solar panels would go on green space behind CUP. There had been previous discussion of placing some of the panels in a parking lot, which would have cost about 10 parking spaces, but that idea has since been dropped.

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