Our First Calgary Installation: Temple B'nai Tikvah

Our fourth solar project came with a real milestone attached: it's our first installation outside the Bow Valley, and our first in the city of Calgary. It took root on the roof of Temple B'nai Tikvah, and honestly, it's one of our favourite stories, because it started with a congregation that had wanted to go solar for years, and a community of partners who helped make that happen.

Peter Driftmier, who heads the Temple's environmental committee, put it simply: the congregation had talked informally about going solar for a long time, and finally decided it was time to act, because they care deeply about their Jewish community and about doing their part on climate change. That motivation, paired with support from the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, and the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, is what got this project off the ground.

It's also a project that pushed us into new territory. Unlike our earlier Bow Valley installations, Temple B'nai Tikvah was Calgary's first cooperative solar project to use a microgeneration model rather than the small scale generation approach we'd used before, a genuinely different regulatory category. The Biosphere Institute secured funding through the Alberta Ecotrust Climate Innovation Fund, which we matched to help cover the project's upfront costs, and from there, the pieces started coming together.

We signed the agreements in the summer of 2023, with construction planned for that fall. As part of the deal, the Biosphere Institute committed to supporting us with open house events, a myth busting social media campaign, and a project manual, a detailed case study packaged with the resources and templates other Alberta communities would need to replicate what we were building together. That community engagement started early: we held a Renewable Energy Investment Open House on October 12, 2023, and a Prospective Host Engagement Forum on October 19, 2023, both right at the Temple, both co-hosted with the Biosphere Institute.

Installation began October 31, 2023, with Skyfire Energy managing design and construction. What went up was a 26 kW array made up of 65 solar panels, expected to generate around 30,000 kWh of clean electricity annually and offset roughly 20 tonnes of CO₂ a year, covering somewhere around a quarter of the Temple's purchased electricity. Skyfire also installed a live generation tracker inside the building, so congregants and visitors could watch the system's real time output for themselves.

The system went live on November 8, 2023, and we didn't wait long to celebrate. On December 9, 2023, we threw a proper party: the B'nai Tikvah Switch-on and Chanukah Celebration, powering up an electric menorah with the Temple's own solar energy and hosting a family friendly luncheon right after morning services. It's one of our favourite little details from any of our projects, a Jewish community lighting a Chanukah menorah with power generated on their own roof.

Two people deserve real credit for how this all came together. Andrea Johancsik, who represented the Biosphere Institute, joined our board during this period and became a key force behind our expansion into Calgary, designing and leading an investment campaign that brought in new members and capital along the way. And Peter Driftmier, who first appeared as the Temple's environmental committee lead, later joined our own board too, serving as Membership Chair and now as Environment Chair. Outside BVGEC, he helped found a worker owned cooperative bakery in Calgary called The Grain Exchange and works in mental health therapy with refugee and immigrant youth, which says a lot about the kind of people this project has brought into our community.

By its first anniversary, the system had generated 29.12 MWh of power and offset 19.6 tonnes of CO₂, the equivalent of planting 323 trees. But the project's impact goes beyond the numbers: the open houses, the social media campaign, and the resulting Guide to Community Generation gave other congregations and communities across Alberta a real playbook for building something similar themselves.

The numbers:

• 26 kW system, 65 panels, on the roof of Temple B'nai Tikvah in Calgary

• Our fourth project overall, and first outside the Bow Valley

• Built with the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, The Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition, and the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation

• Construction began October 31, 2023, system switched on November 8, 2023

• Celebrated with a Chanukah switch-on event on December 9, 2023

• Projected to generate about 30,000 kWh a year, offsetting roughly 20 tonnes of CO₂

• First year actual results: 29.12 MWh generated, 19.6 tonnes of CO₂ offset (about 323 trees worth)

• Covers roughly a quarter of the Temple's purchased electricity