聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Carlyle's Built 4 Life Health and Fitness made the switch to solar panels earlier this year and although timing has prevented owner/operator Jenna Jensen from reaping the full benefit of a less expensive power bill yet, she says she's looking forward to the results of the upgrade to her premises.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淓verything here - the treadmills, the stair climbers, the ellipticals, the bikes, the hydromassage, the tanning beds - basically everything except the weight machines - are powered by electricity,鈥� says Jensen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎nd we're open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so the lights are usually on 24/7, too,鈥� she adds. 鈥淢y power bill was ridiculous.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t was a big upgrade,鈥� says Jensen of the 120 panel installation. 鈥淚t covers much of the whole building. 鈥淚t took a little under two days to install 120 panels and 2BGreen Solar from Regina and K2 Electric from White City did it in late August (2017).鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭erry Rutten upgraded the breaker panel from a 200 amp panel to a 400 amp panel.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t was a big upgrade, but they were a great team and were really quick and efficent,鈥� adds Jensen. 鈥淚n just two or three days in August, it was fully operational and was hooked into the grid.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In spite of the seamless installation, Jensen says it will be months until she sees a lower power bill
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淏ecause it was (installed in) late August, I didn't bank very much energy,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he net metering contract is based on the premise that you accumulate and bank the sun's energy the next month and when it rolls over, you use the credit.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淪o I'll still be seeing a bit of a power bill and I won't really reap the benefits until spring 2018.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淩ight now in winter, I'm 50 percent for the season,鈥� says Jensen. 鈥淭hat is 50 percent solar. This spring and summer, I'll hopefully be 100 percent and by the winter of 2018, I hope to have banked enough credits to be at 100 percent (solar).鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Jensen says the inspiration for making her five-year-old building solar-powered is her father, Larry Jensen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淒ad has a big shop on our farm near Alida and he converted it to solar power,鈥� she says. 鈥淟ast聽 spring, over Easter supper we talked and not long after that, I started getting the permits and paperwork in order with SaskPower.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t offers a lot of advantages,鈥� says Jensen. 鈥淎nd of course, it's an environmentally-friendly, renewable resource.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚'm looking forward to seeing what happens in spring.鈥�
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