About SPICE - Solar Power Investment Cooperative of Edmonton
Leading Edmonton's Fair Energy Transition
We connect local investors with community buildings, turning rooftops into renewable power sources. For communities, it's a chance to embrace solar energy with minimal upfront costs. For investors, it's an opportunity to drive meaningful environmental and social change and see tangible returns.
Our Mission
Unleashing Local Capital for Solar Empowerment
Our mission is to unlock the potential of local capital to facilitate solar installations on community buildings.
We’re dedicated to maximizing social, environmental, and financial returns, ensuring that our investors not only see a return on their investment but also contribute to the greater good of the community.
Unique Value Proposition
Tailored Solar Solutions for Communities and Investors
SPICE stands out with a dual-focused value proposition that serves both community organizations and our members and investors.
For Community Organizations
We offer turn-key solar solutions that save money in the long run, providing financing and knowledge without the need for significant capital.
SPICE simplifies the transition to renewable energy, handling all the work while you reap the benefits of owning the power generated on your roof.
As a certified social enterprise, we work with award-winning installers to ensure quality installations and community upskilling.
For Our Members
Investing in SPICE means more than just financial returns; it’s about making a local impact and fostering the shift towards sustainable energy.
Your investment stays within the community, allowing you to witness its transformative effects firsthand.
With a modest starting point for investment and a lifetime membership available, SPICE makes it easy and rewarding to contribute to Edmonton’s solar landscape.
Our Cooperative Approach
SPICE is more than an energy provider; we’re a community of like-minded individuals who believe in a sustainable future.
Our cooperative model ensures democratic decision-making, transparency, and equal opportunity for all members.
Whether you’re a community leader or an individual investor, SPICE offers a platform to make a tangible difference.
Our Partners and Impact
We collaborate with a diverse range of community leagues, charities, non-profits, First Nations, churches, and community-minded corporations.
Our projects not only illuminate buildings but also brighten futures, contributing to a fair and abundance-based economy
How SPICE Works
SPICE simplifies the process of solar installation for communities by utilizing private investments to fund solar systems on community buildings. Our model is easy and accessible, requiring no large upfront capital or technical knowledge from building owners or extensive solar knowledge from investors.
We provide all the necessary work, leveraging our expertise and network of reliable partners to create healthy, abundant, and prosperous communities.
Start the Conversation
Solar Assessment and economic viability
We will conduct a scan of your site and utility bill and propose a solar system including possible financing terms. We decide together if we want to go ahead with the project.
Letter of Intent
We will sign a letter of intent to outline our mutual project intentions and roles and define the next steps and timeline.
Project development
We will do all necessary steps to get your solar project going. This can include a technical feasibility analysis, an energy audit, etc. An important part of this step is to define the community benefits of your project together.
Memorandum of Understanding
Once we have finalized all parameters of your project, we will sign a Memorandum of Understanding as a joint commitment to the project.
Funding and Contracts
Communication of the project and SPICE fundraising starts while all required contracts get signed.
Installation
Once funding and contracts are in place, installation can proceed!
Profit and Ownership
Start saving by using the profit from your own power to cover the system lease, leading to ownership of the solar system and the full benefit of savings after the contract term.
The Benefits of Community Solar
Our solar systems generate significant environmental and community benefits. By producing more renewable energy, we reduce the need for carbon-based energy sources, benefiting the planet and all its inhabitants.
Financially, community-funded energy projects lower the initial barrier of solar projects and offer a long-term income source for both the building owner and investors.
Why an Investment Cooperative?
Choosing SPICE as an investment cooperative means embracing the democratization of green energy generation.
Our cooperative allows for sustainable, local investments, and the opportunity to participate in green energy without owning a roof.
We’re also working towards making our future investments eligible for registered accounts, such as RRSPs and TFSAs.
SPICE Projects
Our projects aim to remove the barriers to solar electricity access and ownership, create meaningful climate change solutions, and add green energy to the grid.
We utilize urban rooftops for electricity generation, offer flexible investment options, and reduce upfront costs for building owners.
Additionally, we provide the option for building owners to consume energy directly from their rooftops, enhancing their sustainability and autonomy.
Our Team
SPICE is seeking to expand our board as we take on new members and new investors. We are looking for community members from diverse backgrounds and with diverse skill sets. Please consider nominating yourself or a capable friend. Interested?
Annette has successfully managed projects and consulted companies of all sizes for over 10 years in Germany and various other countries. Her excellent skills in strategic planning, project setup, and project management are needed whenever vision and strategy is converted into operational business.
She ensures the involvement of all stakeholders and that every detail of a project is taken care off. Since 2013, Annette has focused on projects advancing renewable energies, specifically solar power.
For four years she has been part of a small leadership team that created the solar business of one of Europe’s largest utilities, growing it from zero to a market share of 20% and selling 3,000 solar installations every year.
Annette’s goal is to use her knowledge and experience in her new home Edmonton, and help the Albertan energy market shift towards a sustainable future built upon renewable energy sources.
Annette holds a Master’s degree in Business and Economics from one of the top Universities in Germany, WWU in Münster. She has also certified as a NetPromoter Associate along with her many projects using NetPromoterScore as a measurement for customer centricity and company success.
Warren is an Alumnus of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) from the Electronics Engineering Technology Program with 35 years of international experience in high technology including renewable energy.
He has traveled extensively and from this experience, gained an in-depth knowledge of how renewable energy is helping address our impact on climate change around the world. His natural curiosity drove him to leave the corporate world and start 3 ventures in renewable energy and tech.
In 2010, he established Evergreen & Gold Renewable Energy to retrofit his office to a net-zero energy standard and be part of the local industry helping to transition Albertans to a sustainable future. Warren has also helped the local industry by serving on the board of the Solar Energy Society of Alberta (SESA) for 6 years, sitting as Chair of the Board for 3 of them.
He is a member of several coops, a lifelong environmentalist and is often invited to speak around Alberta about the province’s electrical system. Most importantly Warren is the founding Chair of the Board for Solar Power Investment Cooperative of Edmonton (SPICE).
Over a decade ago a 9 year-old friend asked for help with her anti-idling work. Rocky assisted her in forming Eco-Air (Edmonton’s Children’s Organized Anti-idling Recruiters). Through this air-quality work, Rocky developed a growing interest in environmental health. Eco-Air went on to win an Emerald Award.
She continues to learn from the many groups and individuals that bring light to the inseparable links between environmental health and human health. Rocky has enjoyed board roles on the Solar Energy Society of Alberta (SESA), Alberta Capital Airshed, Edmonton Area Land Trust, Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL), and the Alberta Environmental Network (AEN). She is an advocate for environmental law reform via HealthyYEG.org and a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment(CAPE).
Rocky started as a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics before earning a Medical Degree from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH. She is a practiced specialist in Internal Medicine in Alberta. Rocky was happy to retire from her medical profession in May of 2018 and focus on SPICE and other projects that advance sustainability.
Loryn is a surety underwriter with experience in bonding construction projects across Western Canada and into the United States. Growing up in Fort McMurray, Loryn has been involved in non profit work, and sees the value behind social leadership and renewable energy. As an active Board Member of YOUCAN Youth Service, he has been involved with the governance of an organization involved in youth employment services. Loryn has a degree in Business Administration from NAIT and looks forward to bringing his passion for solar energy to SPICE.
Bryan is a red seal electrician interests throughout the electrical industry especially wind turbines. energy efficiency, net-zero buildings, building automation, renewable energy and solar power.
From a young age Bryan has been passionate about energy, environmentalism, and community building. Active for years in the labour movement, as an administrator and organizer, and recently with arts non-profits, as treasurer of Mile Zero Dance, Bryan brings years of experience with board governance and community organizing.
Before entering the world of construction they earned a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Physics from the University of Alberta.
Jeff lives in Edmonton and his work as a family doctor brings him face to face with individual problems caused by systemic failures. He passionately believes that healthy people require a healthy economic system that works for people, not only profits, and all of this is dependent on a healthy environment. It is this passion that brings him to SPICE, where sustainable ecosystems meet smart economics. Jeff’s experience includes retrofitting his own home, achieving a 50% reduction in the home’s energy use that is now partially powered by roof top solar. He was a founding board member of Alberta’s first Primary Care Network, a principal founder and chief financial strategist for a travel hostel company, served as chair of Sustainable Works, a volunteer-led initiative to increase the uptake of energy efficiency retrofitting, and is a member of a volunteer team spearheading the conversion of a church property into an energy efficient, affordable housing development and community hub. Most recently, Jeff is a founding director of a land trust that seeks to protect ecologically sensitive land at the confluence of the Cariboo, Monashee, and Rocky Mountain ranges.
Annie has spent forty years working with municipalities, provincial government, post-secondary institutions and not-for-profit organizations. In her work, she has fought for increased affordable housing, food security, programs for the homeless and childcare spaces, ESL Programs, anti-racism initiatives, funding for detox facilities, and responsible urban development.
For five years she managed a national research institute at the University of Victoria exploring the contribution of the not-for-profit sector, co-operatives, and credit unions to local community economic development and social well-being. Food security was an important part of the research of the national institute and its regional hubs.
She has a Master’s degree in Education and Diploma in Public Sector Management from the University of Victoria and a Bachelor Degree in Ecology from McGill University.
She was the MLA for Sherwood Park from 2015-2019 and was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education with a focus on the school nutrition program and community hubs model for schools.
In 2018 Dan and his family moved into their new house in Edmonton where they investigated having solar installed on the residence. Having long been passionate about energy conservation and renewable options, they were disappointed to learn that their house was in a poor location for a residential system setup. Wanting to engage locally, Dan and his family decided to search out options that would be more environmentally sustainable, with a direct impact on the community around them. Research led them to SPICE, where they felt alignment to their own environmental and social values.
Dan holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Alberta and has spent more than 15 years repairing and maintaining critical assets for the industrial market and its end users. Dan was born and raised in Alberta and grew up on a farm just outside a small town. His upbringing taught him the value of community and provided a strong connection to nature and the environment. Dan and his family are continually active outdoors with passions for skiing, hiking, and back country camping, which adds to their mission of supporting environmentally sustainable options for energy. His goal is to bring this passion, purpose, and connection to SPICE to help bring renewable energy to all levels of our community.
Robert (Bob) Ascah holds degrees in Commerce and Public Administration from Carleton University and completed his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Alberta in 1984. In 1984, he joined Alberta’s public service (Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs) moving to Alberta Treasury in 1986. At the Treasury he was responsible for financial sector policy, foreign borrowing, and liaison with credit rating agencies. In 1996, he joined Alberta Treasury Branches becoming responsible for government relations, strategic planning, and economic research. In August 2009 he was appointed Director of the Institute for Public Economics at The University of Alberta where he served for four years. In 1999, Ascah’s Ph.D. dissertation Politics and Public Debt- The Dominion, the Banks and Alberta’s Social Credit was published by the University of Alberta Press. He recently authored a book on a sales tax for Alberta published by Athabasca University Press in 2021. His blog is Abpolecon.ca
