Solar field coming to Conestoga’s Cambridge campus

CAMBRIDGE — In a former corn field off Fountain Street, 200 solar panels will soon rise on the empty southwest corner of Conestoga College’s Cambridge campus.

“We’re installing a 500-kilowatt solar field,” said Tim Schill, Conestoga’s facilities management director. “And a 250-ton geothermal unit.”

The $5.2-million project, to be completed by March, is paid for by a provincial grant. Solar panel pedestal installation and angle-drilling for 80 geothermal wells under the college parking lot could begin in July.

The solar panels, set on an angle between the college service road and the Highway 401 on-ramp, will essentially power the geothermal system.

The geothermal system will heat and cool the campus, losing heat into the ground in the summer and drawing heat from the ground in the winter. The college won’t have to use its boilers, unless extreme cold hits.

“We’re reducing our carbon emissions by 390 tons per year through the use of the geothermal heat pump,” Schill said. “That’s 98 cars worth for a year.”

The solar power generated will go into the system of Energy Plus, Cambridge’s public utility. A meter will keep track of power produced by the solar panels, each measuring one metre by two meters and stacked four panels high. Conestoga’s power use will also be monitored.

“It still doesn’t cover off the whole campus. A half a meg won’t do that,” Schill said.

The solar panel sections themselves, rising on an angle 2.4 metres (eight feet) off the ground, will need some cover after the matter went to the City of Cambridge’s heritage committee. Shrubbery up to 1.8 metres (six feet) high is intended to make them less obvious from Fountain Street and so that they have less of a visual impact on the rural feel of nearby Blair village.

Eventually, if a federal grant comes through, a similar project could unfold at the college’s Doon campus on the other side of the 401. “We won’t know about that until the new year.” Schill said.