Who bought the first solar homes, and what they paid

Event date: 2005-11-26

A sold-out first phase

Sales opened in September 2005 and the first phase was gone by November. A second phase of 25 homes was due to launch in early January, and a row of six model homes was already standing. Buyers came from Quebec, Seattle and the Calgary area, and many were moving out of larger houses. The first families were expected in April 2006. At the time the project was described as the largest group of R-2000 homes in Canada, a claim worth reading as a 2005 description.

What a buyer paid

The two-storey homes had 1,500 to 1,600 square feet of living space on lots 34 feet wide and 120 feet deep. Prices started at $230,000, and buyers paid a premium of about five per cent, with roughly $40,000 in upgrades such as fencing, low-flow fixtures and the solar hot water system. Once the ground storage was fully charged, which was expected to take a couple of years, the homes were to use about 30 per cent less energy than a conventional house.

How the project was funded

Grants made up much of the early money: $2 million from the federal government, $635,000 from Alberta and $2.9 million through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. At the time, natural gas would have had to cost roughly twice as much for communities like this to pay their own way, so the demonstration depended on that support. The full list of backers is on the partners page.

Where it stands now

The 2005 figures describe expectations, not results. The community was monitored for years, reached full solar heating in the 2015-16 season, and was wound down from 2024. The technical plan from that December shows what buyers were told about the system. For ownership and current status, check with the Town of Okotoks or ATCO.

Quick answers