Solar Ready Design Panel
Speakers: Kelly Winder, Pamela Groat & Laura Hartney
With the rising cost of energy and the improvement of solar energy technology many places around the world are working towards supporting solar energy generation in a variety of ways. In 2022 Solar energy grew by 25.9% (810 MW) in Canada to a new total installed capacity of nearly 4 GW with Saskatchewan adding 387 MW of capacity on its own. This panel will discuss some of the issues and opportunities with designing space for solar power and discuss how we might design policy, buildings, outdoor spaces, and human settlements to support this.
Kelly Winder, M.Sc., BEMP, P. Eng.
Kelly Winder has generated over one hundred energy models for energy code compliance in his career. He was a member of the Building Performance group at the Saskatchewan Research Council, where he was involved with multiple renewable energy projects, and is one of the founders of Saskatchewan’s premiere sustainable buildings conference, Building Saskatchewan Green. Kelly graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a dual degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and completed his International Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Kelly’s expertise includes building energy modeling, renewable energy system modeling, and building envelope analysis.
Pamela Groat, M.E.S., P.Eng.
Pam is a Community Energy and Sustainability Consultant that joined Urban Systems’ Saskatoon office at the beginning of 2023. She is currently leading a multi-year project that will deliver 6 community energy plans for the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, while working closely with the band to build their capacity to implement the recommended actions in the plans. Prior to working at Urban Systems, Pam worked as a Project Engineer with the Sustainability department at the City of Saskatoon, where she contributed to a wide range of initiatives to reduce Saskatoon’s greenhouse gas emissions, including the Curbside Organics Program, the Materials Recovery Center, the Renewable and Low-emissions Energy Implementation Plan, the Zero-Emission Vehicle Adoption Roadmap, and the City’s Natural Capital Asset Valuation Pilot project.
Pam studied Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary and received her Masters in Sustainable Environmental Management at the University of Saskatchewan. She is also a resident at Radiance Cohousing, a shining example of Passive House design and the site of Saskatoon Light & Power’s previous net metering pilot with the SES Solar Co-op and the Saskatoon Carshare Cooperative
Laura Hartney, RPP, MCIP.
Laura Hartney is a graduate of the Regional and Urban Planning Program at the University of Saskatchewan, with more than 30 years of diverse professional planning experience. Laura worked as a planning consultant, providing community planning services to municipalities and First Nations; as a planning director for a rural municipality in a rural-urban fringe; and as part of a provincial team that developed amendments to provincial planning legislation. She has worked on policy to support renewable energy and solar power with the City of Saskatoon. Throughout her career, Laura has valued opportunities to take a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to serving clients and communities, create partnerships, and bring together diverse interests and find common ground. In 2021, Laura received the Fraser-Gatrell Award from SPPI and the James Pooler Award from the University of Saskatchewan for distinguished contributions to planning.
Event details
8:30 pm, Wednesday, November 22
Design Week HQ + Virtual
317 4th Ave S, Saskatoon, SK.
Free admission