A Canada-based door and window manufacturer recently unveiled the country’s largest rooftop solar industrial field installed on a door, window and glass manufacturing facility. The installation is at All Weather at Home’s showroom and manufacturing plant in Edmonton.
All Weather officials say the 1,183-kilowatt direct current system spans 110,000 square feet of rooftop and features 2,040 Thornova 580-watt solar panels. The array generates roughly 1.3 gigawatt hours of energy annually, enough electricity to power 1,548 typical Alberta single-family homes for one year. It is also expected to avoid 632 tons of carbon emissions annually. On weekends, surplus power flows directly into Alberta’s electricity grid.
“This is a long-term investment in how we operate,” says Colin Wiebe, co-CEO of All Weather Group. “We are not reacting to market conditions or checking a sustainability box. We are making a deliberate, calculated decision to build a stronger business, reduce our cost structure and reinforce the standard we hold ourselves to as a leader in this industry. The companies that will define Canadian manufacturing in the next generation are the ones making these decisions today.”
The project was developed alongside InfernoEnergy. Officials explain that the process required navigating complex structural engineering, permitting and technical approvals to bring an installation of this scale to life on an active manufacturing facility. All Weather at Home expects the system to pay for itself within 7.5 years.
“Projects like this don’t happen without a client who already knows where they’re going,” says Curtis Craig, president of InfernoEnergy. “All Weather at Home came to us with a vision to reduce utility expenses and the patience to do it right. The technical complexity here was real. This is a large, active manufacturing plant, and what made it possible was a partner who understood that doing it properly was worth the time it took.”
All Weather is a privately owned company founded in 1978. According to officials, it is one of Canada’s largest privately owned manufacturers of doors, windows and glass, with 261,000-plus square feet of manufacturing space.