Drake Landing, a solar energy community south of Calgary, loses its sizzle as system starts to fail

Drake Landing, once the leading solar heating com‐ munity of its kind in North America, may have to rely on fossil fuels as the aging system is breaking down and may be too expensive or impossible to fix.

The 52 homeowners in the small, tight-knit commu‐ nity in Okotoks, south of Cal‐ gary, at one point welcomed guests from around the wor‐ ld to show off the ground‐ breaking technology. The in‐ ternational visitors wanted to see first-hand how energy from the hot summer sun could be collected and stored and then released in a harsh Canadian winter to heat the community's houses.

By all accounts, Drake Landing, established in 2006, exceeded the expectations and objectives set by the pro‐ ject's financial backers which included the provincial and federal governments.

Showcase a large-scale, seasonal, solar storage sys‐ tem capable of supplying over 90 per cent of the space heating requirements in a residential community? Check.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to con‐ ventional houses? Check.

Create a model that could represent the future of sus‐ tainable residential heating systems? Check.

Win multiple national and international building, envi‐ ronment and sustainability awards? Check. Check.

But now, the system is starting to fail, and it could be decommissioned - it's one outcome the community faces.

System could be decom‐ missioned

ATCO's Tim Corboy is a spokesperson for the Drake Landing Company, which runs the community and is an equal partnership of ATCO, the Town of Okotoks, homebuilder Sterling Homes and property developer An‐ them United.

He declined an interview request but responded via email to a number of ques‐ tions.

Corboy said the company has been working hard over the past year and a half to find "affordable and reliable solutions to the growing sys‐ tem performance issues." He said this includes trying to find parts and experts to ser‐ vice the 20-year-old tech‐ nology.

He said a number of com‐ ponents have reached their end of life, including the air handler unit, the solar collec‐ tors, custom-made fittings that connect the entire sys‐ tem together and other un‐ named replacement parts.

Corboy said the residents' health, safety and comfort "has always been and will continue to be the primary driver in all considerations and decisions." He said any decision will be communi‐ cated to the residents first.

Corboy said the options include:

New communal energy system. Individual systems. New solar technology. Indi‐ vidual heat exchangers. In‐ stallation of forced air natur‐ al gas furnaces. Decommis‐ sion the communal solar heating system.

Corboy said decommis‐ sioning would not mean the project was a failure.

"It's important to note that we do not see this project as a failure at all. At the time, this system was rev‐ olutionary and caught atten‐ tion from around the world. Much has been learned be‐ cause of this community," he said.

It's disappointing for some of the owners who ex‐ pected to get at least 25-30 years out of the ground‐ breaking system.

"I just thought it was a re‐ ally good plan, something that I thought would be longlasting," said Wayne Bonnar, who was standing outside the two-storey house he pur‐ chased in 2017.

The 52 homes range in size from about 1,500 square feet to almost 1,700 square feet. They have higher insula‐ tion values, an air-tight build‐ ing envelope and energy effi‐ cient windows.

Each home has a standalone solar hot water heater with a conventional, high-effi‐ ciency, natural gas water heater as a backup.

"It was very successful," said Jeff Ivan, one of Bon‐ nar's neighbours.

Ivan, who is an original owner and runs the commu‐ nity's social media page, says many of the system's compo‐ nents were built specifically for Drake Landing, so finding replacement parts is difficult, if not impossible.

The homeowners were first warned about system failures last fall.

Groundbreaking, globalleading

Along with the homes, the $14.6-million project includes the "energy centre," which sits next to 144 underground, thermal energy storage bore holes dug 37 metres deep. The holes are underneath a small green space in the community. That's where the solar energy is stored during the summer and then re‐ leased in the winter to heat the homes via a community energy network. This kind of setup is often referred to as a district heating system.

Detached garages at the back of each house are con‐ nected by a continuous roof where 800 solar heat collec‐ tors are located.

The project received $3.4 million from the federal and provincial governments and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Along with funding for the project, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) provided technical support on the sys‐ tem's design and installation.

It says the project was a success and, in fact, it was the first system in the world to achieve more than 90 per cent of the homes' required space heating - even reaching 100 per cent in 2015. It's un‐ likely that NRCan will be in‐ volved in any type of refresh or refurbishment of the sys‐ tem. It said in an email to CBC News that it supported the project in its research, development and demon‐ stration stages - not when it reaches the end of its life cy‐ cle.

It was well-known among the owners that the system put in place in Okotoks was groundbreaking - that it had the potential to represent the future of sustainable residen‐ tial heating.

But, there was uncertainty - and a backup plan.

Residents were told that if the system failed, their homes would be converted to natural gas.

Pulling the plug on solar heat

According to Bonnar, some of his neighbours have already pulled the plug on using the sun's energy to heat their homes and have opted for natural gas fur‐ naces.

"Things are starting to de‐ teriorate a little bit," he said.

He hopes the company won't give up on renewable energy as a heat source.

"It would be nice if they could do something more in line with non-fossil fuels, an‐ other solar system to replace it. But I would imagine that means removing everything. The controls probably would‐ n't be compatible to another more up-to-date, modern so‐ lar panel system"

Ivan agrees.

"Right now, we don't know a clear path regarding that. We have asked that they look at green energy, whether it be a heat pump with a natur‐ al gas backup - that would be a preferred type of system," he said.

So Bonnar and Ivan and the 50 other owners now wait.

In his email, Corboy said a final decision has not been made.

"It is the board's intention to share it with the commu‐ nity as soon as possible, and particularly before next win‐ ter," he said.

Bryan Labby is an enter‐ prise reporter with CBC Calgary. If you have a good story idea or tip, you can reach him at bryan.lab‐ by@cbc.ca or on X at @CBCBryan.