Solar panel project in the works for Linkletter

The Rural Municipality of Linkletter, a community of around 320 people, is installing solar panels to cut some of its costs and reduce its carbon footprint.

By the end of March, 56 solar panels will help power the Linkletter community centre.

Mayor David Buell said the solar project has been in the works for the past year.

"With the talk that was coming from the government regarding the carbon tax and doing things to reduce your overall environmental footprint, we started to look — at that point in time — at potential different options of what we could do," he said.

"We're only small but we were sure that it would be something that we could do as well."

Province pitching in

Buell said council was influenced by one of its neighbours.

Summerside put in a solar energy system at Credit Union Place and has attributed the installation with lowering its electricity costs.

Buell said the panels will supply roughly 90 per cent of the community centre's power and can also be used as a source of power in case of an outage.

The project costs about $52,000 with half of that coming from the province, according to Buell.

He said any money that is saved by installing the panels will be invested back into the community.

"I think it's a positive thing," he said.

"We're looking not so much right at how things stand today, as much as what will take place going into the future."

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