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Green Acres Colony: A solar-powered egg farm

This profile is the third in the Innovative farmer series—a collection of on-farm profiles that highlight sustainability and innovation projects underway on Canadian egg farms.

It has been just over a decade since Green Acres Colony built its two-megawatt solar farm in Bassano, Alberta. The colony’s investment in solar has paid off as they move toward becoming energy independent, with the egg farm fully powered by solar energy, and some to spare for the rest of the colony. To top it off, the nearly 8,000-panel solar egg farm sells electricity surplus back into the grid, providing clean power to the surrounding community.

Solar energy powers Green Acres’ farm.

Larry Hofer, the layer operations manager at Green Acres Colony, describes the real-world benefits of solar on farms:

“For us, sustainability means to be self-sufficient at the end of the day, knowing that you can rely on yourself and being able to move forward and leave something for the kids,” says Larry.

How the solar panel system works

The solar panel array converts sunlight into electricity. A bidirectional meter constantly monitors the electricity being drawn from the solar grid and the surplus being directed back to the power system. The net result? Steady, reliable on-site energy generation.

Larry Hofer is the layer operations manager at Green Acres Colony.

It took less than a year to get the solar farm up and running. Today, the system continues to be low-maintenance and reliable.

Every year, the solar farm produces about the same amount of energy required to power 190 homes for a year.1 The solar panels maintain 95% efficiency and have a projected 25-year lifespan.

“Even after years of operation and a few hailstorms, the panels have held up exceptionally well,” says Larry

The impact of solar power

In addition to supplying renewable energy back into the local grid, this solar farm saves 1,444 tonnes of CO₂ emissions in a year; that’s the equivalent of what almost 24,000 tree seedlings would absorb over a decade of growing.2

Looking to the future, Larry is considering upgrading the barn with solar wall technology to increase energy efficiency and reduce heating costs, moving the colony even closer to energy independence.

Learn more about this solar energy project at Green Acres Colony by reading our fact sheet.

1 Energyrates.ca. (n.d.). Residential Electricity and Natural Gas Plans. https://energyrates.ca

2 United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2024). Greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. https://www.epa.gov