This article is part of a regular series highlighting the innovative approaches of Scotiabank clients.
Once the economic heart of the Coldstream, B.C., area, the former Consumers Glass Factory shut its doors in 2008 and was decommissioned in 2009. It marked the loss of more than 300 key jobs and dealt a blow to the surrounding community.
But now, a family-owned company is working to give the 450,000-square-foot site new life as an industrial park to bring in jobs — and aiming to do so with the help of solar power.
Restoration Lands has installed glass solar panels on the seven-acre roof of the main building at the site — now called the Okanagan Industrial Eco Park — to supplement power for the businesses there. Once complete and operational, it will be one of the largest rooftop solar installations of its kind in British Columbia.
Mike Molnar, the CEO of Restoration Lands, hopes to eventually create 1,000 jobs.
“The reason it's called Restoration Lands is because we want to restore jobs and economic development,” said Molnar.
Molnar and his wife, who have lived in nearby Vernon since 1993, purchased the iconic site in 2016. The factory, which has more than 91 acres of industrial zoned land, is located roughly 70 kilometres north of Kelowna.
He remembers the impact of the closure of what’s colloquially referred to by locals as “the old glass plant.” When those high-paying jobs were lost, many folks had to seek employment farther afield in Northern Alberta in the oil and gas sector, leaving their families for long periods of time, he recalls.
“Our goal is to have enough activity, have enough good jobs to be able to keep our moms and dads at home and have a stronger community,” he said.
Restoration Lands, a Scotiabank client, had a vision of recommissioning and restoring the building with sustainability in mind. It is now one of the largest industrial buildings in the province, said Molnar.
The overall property was subdivided into 18 industrial lots, ranging from 1.2 to 12 acres, and the building sits on one of the lots. So far, nine tenants with varying operations have moved in, representing roughly 200 jobs, said Molnar.
In addition to generating electricity through solar power, their approach is to bring in businesses that complement each other or use each others’ products with the aim of reducing transportation and related emissions.
Businesses that work together include a truss and floor joist maker, a modular home company, a cabinet maker and a company that makes cedar planters from rescued wood. There is also a mushroom grower who provides supply to another tenant that is a plant-based food product producer, he adds.
“Our goal is to have enough activity, have enough good jobs to be able to keep our moms and dads at home and have a stronger community.”
“We'll be bringing their product across the parking lot instead of shipping them part way across the country,” said Molnar. “We've got manufacturing, we've got vendors and customers all on the same property, which helps to reduce the carbon footprint because there's less need for delivery and transport.”
Solar power was also part of Restoration Lands’ plan from the beginning, but it has been a lengthy process. It required approvals from the provincial power utility, BC Hydro, and a new roof engineered to support the weight of the solar panels.
The first phase of the installation began in mid-July of last year, and the company received approval from BC Hydro this month and is awaiting documentation to begin power generation in the coming months.
With full daylight summer sun, this first phase of the solar farm project is expected to generate as much as 1.7 Megawatts (MW), Molnar said.
Restoration Lands isn’t selling the energy generated by the solar panels to BC Hydro to feed into the province’s power grid. Rather the electricity will reduce the amount of energy the Eco Park obtains from BC Hydro, Molnar said.
The aim is for the solar panel project to eventually be able to generate as much as 2.4 MW, once the second and third phases of solar panel installation are complete.
“It's more than enough to power everything inside the building and our purchasers and manufacturers on all the other lots,” he said.
A long-time Scotiabank client, Molnar said Restoration Lands has been pleased to have a banking partner with a similar mindset.
The Bank provided financing for the property itself, various improvements onsite and for the solar project in its entirety.
“We're delighted to see that from a sustainability perspective and a stewardship perspective that we're very much in alignment with regards to the importance of making our contributions, both to the environment and to the economic community around us.”
Robyn Chisholm, Vice President, Canadian Commercial Banking, BC Region at Scotiabank says the Bank is eager to support innovative approaches and businesses like Restoration Lands.
“This is a unique venture that is thinking about sustainability on several levels, from the interplay between the kinds of companies they attract through to the design features of their building. It is great for Scotiabank to be part of such a powerful demonstration of the way businesses can explore redevelopment, sustainability, and local economic resiliency,” Chisholm said. “We are proud to support Restoration Lands and their efforts to boost opportunity in the region.”
