A solar panel project at the RM of Ste. Anne municipal office has inspired residents of the municipality to also go green.

Reeve Art Bergmann says they are being recognized by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, among a group of other municipalities, for their initiatives to lower greenhouse gases and be more energy efficient in their municipality.

“So a lot of the deal is a lot of people see the solar panels because we’re just off of the number 12 highway and it’s sparked quite a bit of interest. We’ve actually had a number of people within our municipality that have put up solar projects, whether they’ve seen this and said ‘what a good idea I want to do it too,’ who knows. For us to be able to use this and to be able to allow the hydro energy to be used in other places seems like a good idea.”

The panel was installed in April of 2017 and Deputy Reeve Randy Eros says they are very pleased with it so far. He notes they are also exploring the option of doing a similar project for the Richer Fire Hall.

“We sent out a request for proposals for the fire hall in Richer to see how big of a system it would be and what the investment would be but our experience at the RM office has been positive and if it makes sense, we would looking at doing that as well.”

Eros says he’s had a lot of phone calls since the large panel went up at the municipal office, from residents inquiring to do their own solar projects at their homes. He adds it's great whenever a municipality can start an initiative and spark the interest of its residents to make the change.