Cancarb announced it will soon begin construction on a 7,000-panel solar array facility, expected to generate a sixth of the electricity needed for the carbon black plant's utility load.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
A local manufacturer has announced it will move forward with a 7,000-panel solar project that will generate self-supplied electricity fed directly into its plant utility load.
Next year, roughly 17 per cent of electricity used by the Cancarb manufacturing facility, which produces carbon black through the thermal decomposition of natural gas, will be generated by the sun.
The manufacturer announced the green light on the project Monday, confirming installation of a solar array – expected to provide roughly 3.5 megawatts of electricity – on its plot of land located just north of the plant.
The 7,000-panel facility will be built in a similar fashion to the ground-mounted Brooks Solar Farm used exclusively by Cancarb.
“The beauty of this is that it’s nicely tucked in, just north of our plant on land that we own, and it’s really not going to be that visible from any roads,” says president Peter Donnelly, president.
The project has been under development for two years and complies with both municipal and provincial requirements of being a micro-generation project that generates under five megawatts of power.
Due to the Hat’s reputation as Canada’s sunniest city, averaging approximately more than 2,500 hours of sunshine per year, Donnelly says the clean energy project is “low hanging fruit” as its parent company Tokia Carbon Co. is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2025.
“This is one of those … that we can start with,” he said. “We’ve been doing things such as changing out light bulbs to LED, and this is sort of the next level up that we’re adding.
“By adding the solar facility, we’re going to consume less electricity than we would normally buy from the City of Medicine Hat. These are just the low-hanging fruits that we can do ourselves to help improve our environmental footprint.”
Last August, Cancarb was recognized for a second straight year by global firm Eco Vadis for its net-zero initiative. Eco Vadis evaluates and certifies the goals of client operations pertaining to environmental, sustainability and governance goals.
“As a carbon black producer, we are deeply committed to achieving the sustainability goals that have been set out by our parent company,” said Donnelly.
The project is ready to move into its construction phase following the engineering and design planning process and is expected to be online in May 2026.
The solar array will supply approximately one sixth of the manufacturer’s needs to run its carbon black plant utility load, and power is not expected to be sold back to grid. However, during occasional times the plant is not operating due to maintenance, the manufacturing facility could receive a small discount on its utility bills.
“This is only providing about one sixth of our electrical needs, but it’s still a good investment for us to make,” explains Donnelly. “Both from a sustainability perspective and just from a general business perspective as well.”
Medicine Hat’s carbon black manufacturing facility employs more than 80 people.
Additionally, Cancarb contributes to the city’s energy production by providing waste heat to generate electricity, adding it to the grid.
