Two Alberta companies are celebrating a major milestone in sustainable homebuilding.
Jayman Built and its solar partner SkyFire Energy began working together on new home solar installations back in 2018.
Since then, the partnership has seen 28,262 solar modules installed on 3,964 Jayman Built homes – resulting in a total of 10 MegaWatts of solar power generated.
“We did the math. Ten megawatts of power will drive an electric vehicle around the Earth about 1,830 times every year – so that’s pretty incredible,” said David Vonesch, SkyFire Energy president and CEO.
“As one of the first builders in Canada to include 10 solar panels as a standard feature in every home, we are committed to enhancing the quality of life for Albertans today and in the future,” said Dave Hooge, Jayman COO.
Mostafa Farrokhabadi, an assistant professor of electrical and software engineering at University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering, says a 10-square-meter rooftop solar panel array is enough to sustain the energy needs of the average household throughout the year.
“It also helps with the sustainability of the grid,” he said. “If everyone adopts rooftop solar panels, that becomes a considerable portion of the energy needs of the provincial grid coming from residential-level solar energy, which helps essentially to offset some of the carbon emissions from the provincial grid.”
Vonesch says, as far as he knows, there were no home builders doing this anywhere in North America when Jayman started doing it.
Calgarians Gabriela Laquerre and Marc Schmidt purchased their new solar-powered home in the summer of 2024.
Not only do they have solar panels covering the west side of their roof, they also have a heat pump and extra insulation, helping to create a net-zero home.
“It’s really nice when you see Enmax bills where you get money back,” Schmidt said.
“After years and years of seeing electricity and utilities bills going up so high –- and then all of a sudden we see a credit … It was absolutely amazing.”
Vonesch says there are a few government-funded programs to help homeowners make the switch to solar.
“Currently, from the federal government there’s a $40,000 interest-free loan that’s accessible for homeowners to put solar on an existing home,” Vonesch said.
“And then the City of Calgary and Edmonton – and a number of other municipalities – are offering property assessed clean energy financing through the property tax, so you can put solar or complete other energy efficiency upgrades on your home, but finance it through the property tax.”
