Impact has a pretty good understanding of how small towns work on a municipal level. Born on the prairies, our business started in Rosetown Saskatchewan back in 2010 and still calls Rosetown home and HQ.  Over this time we’ve worked with a number of municipalities including Rosetown, Biggar, Kindersley, Eatonia, Conquest,  Elrose and many more - and have built a solid reputation for our expertise in municipal infrastructure maintenance, construction - and funding.  

Pair this with local knowledge, a homegrown team, and a genuine interest in helping our town partners to improve infrastructure efficiencies, reduce energy consumption, and become leaders in environmental stewardship - and you could say we’re doing our best to make a local impact! 

Here’s How We Do It. 

Step 1: Access Federal Funding

In July 2020, The Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities launched the Municipal Energy Roadmap which aims to help Canadian municipalities identify the most promising sustainability solutions for their local context. The roadmap is part of a larger initiative; The Green Municipal Fund, which is a $1 billion program funded by the Government of Canada, with the goal of helping municipalities achieve their long-term sustainability objectives. 

While we can’t guarantee funding for your initiatives - we can steer you in the right direction to put your best foot forward and we can be shovel-ready to get the job done. 

Impact Energy Services has extensive experience in helping our partners integrate clean technologies into their operations and infrastructure. We are also adept at identifying and accessing funding for municipalities in the form of grants, loans, and competitive long-term financing for pilots, capital projects, and more. 

Specific funding opportunities that we have identified for our partners include: 

Federation of Canadian Municipalities Green Municipal Fund

• Retrofit of Municipal Facilities Program  
  Funding program for retrofit capital projects that incorporate a combination of energy efficiency measures that reduce a municipal facility’s GHG emissions by 30% (a maximum of 10% can be on-site renewables – solar PV the remaining 20% needs to be additional measures for example energy efficient lighting, HVAC, doors, window and insulation).  The funding is in the form of low-interest loans for up to 80% of project costs, with 15% of the loan as a grant.

• New Construction of Energy-Efficiency Facilities
  Funding program for New-build capital projects that incorporate a combination of energy efficiency measures that reduce a municipal facility’s GHG emissions by 30% (a maximum of 10% can be on-site renewables – solar PV the remaining 20% needs to be additional measures).  The funding is in the form of low-interest loans for up to 80% of project costs, with 15% of the loan as a grant.

We can assist in the application process to help you make the best case for your town and we can also help to phase projects to manage upfront costs while the application is in review. 

Step 2. Identify Opportunities to Shift to Green

There are a number of initiatives that a town can implement to achieve meaningful reductions in GHG emissions that include: 

• A shift to energy-efficient, low-emissions infrastructure where an efficiency gain can be demonstrated
• A shift to technologies to power facilities with clean energy (for example, fuel switching, such as conversion from diesel)
• Implement energy-efficient heating systems 
• Installation Heat pumps and frequency converters
• Installation of solar panels and solar-powered technology  
• Implement energy conservation initiatives for drinking water and wastewater plants
• Put in place a robust preventative maintenance program 

Impact Energy can help towns identity opportunities to go green. From initial facilities audit to ongoing preventative maintenance - our goal is to: 

1. Help your town transition to a cleaner energy mix
2. Reduce your  operating costs – so that savings can be diverted to other priorities 
3. Increase property values 
4. Protect against rising utility rates
5. Mitigate the impact of carbon taxation
6. Create incredible long-term savings
7. Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
8. Project and invest in future generations
9. Capitalize on the best energy resource in Canada – Saskatchewan sunshine!

Step 3. Check the Taps

For many municipal governments, drinking water and wastewater plants typically are the largest energy consumers, often accounting for 30 to 40 percent of total energy consumed.  Factors such as water treatments (wastewater and drinking water) and pumping (wastewater pumping and drinking water pumping) make up the 38% of energy consumption reported according to CIET Cananda. 

Luckily, by incorporating energy efficiency practices into their water and wastewater plants, municipalities can save 15-30% on cost. This not only saves them thousands of dollars but also has payback periods as short at 1 year or less!

Impact has a growing track record for helping municipalities improve their water and wastewater facilities, working with both the town of Biggar and Conquest.  

On a Town Level: 

In Conquest, Sk we recently upgraded and automated their sewage lift station, implementing an energy-efficient design and automated alarm system. 

In Biggar, Sk we completed the automation upgrades required to maintain safe, efficient operations of the water treatment facility . This required changing out the computer system controlling the plant(PLC).

In Rosetown, Sk we installed the main lift station that pumps the entire Town to meet the Town’s needs of today as well as the capacity needs of Rosetown in the future. The new sewer lift station has a PLC-controlled lift that monitors the facility, as well as other technologies to meet today’s standards. 

Step 4: Harness the Sunshine 

Lucky for us, the prairies get more sunny days than anywhere else in Canada. This is great news for municipalities looking to go solar and thereby save money, reduce power consumption and reap benefits from both Federal and Provincial incentives and rebates.

Solar can also offset loads for plant facilities in the daytime and provide net-metered power for the street lights at night.

Our knowledge in the solar industry has grown quite a lot over the years. In fact, we completed our very first solar job back in 2011. Today, with 9 years of experience and over 1 megawatt of solar power installs under our belt, we have a sunny outlook on the industry and on Impact’s role within it. 

We have created great partnerships with solar contractors, such as Solarcor, where we look after the electrical install and they look after the sizing and panel install.

One of our larger projects – and one of our recent most notable – was for the town Biggar where we installed a 34KW system on the town hall and 54KW system on the hockey arena. 

https://www.impact-energy.ca/journal/impacts-solar-install/

On a Town Level:

We’ve not only installed solar panels on Biggar’s community hall, we also helped to secure government funding for the project. 

Step 5: Prevent & Maintain 

While not as sexy as implementing a brand new solar plant - preventative maintenance is one of the most important undertakings your town can take on to reduce energy consumption, and avoid unplanned downtime from your facilities. As part of our standard preventative maintenance program, we use thermal imaging.  Using an infrared camera (IR), thermal imaging is an excellent tool to assess operational performance, to identify potential risks before they occur, improve efficiencies and avoid catastrophic failures - all while reducing insurance costs. Using an infrared camera (IR), thermal imaging can be performed on anything from motors to lighting panels, motor control centers, VFD’s and more. Here at Impact, our certified technicians are well versed in IR and recommend using it as part of your electrical preventative maintenance program.

Find out more about thermal imaging and the power of infrared here.
https://www.impact-energy.ca/journal/thermal-imaging-the-power-of-infrared/ 

Step 6: Call in The Pros 

By undertaking these projects, with the help of government funding, we can help your town shift to a cleaner energy mix, reduce operating costs, mitigate carbon taxation, and capitalize on the best energy resource in Canada – Saskatchewan sunshine!  

Impact Energy have years of experience working with municipalities and we’ve recently completed a similar work with other towns in the area.  We'd love the opportunity to see what we might be able to achieve for your town. 

If this sounds like something of interest - get in touch to speak with our team. 

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