Drumheller Solar Assessments for Tourism Businesses and Badlands Farms

Drumheller is a town of 7,909 people on the Red Deer River, about 110 km northeast of Calgary, known as the Dinosaur Capital of the World. Tourism is the main industry, helped by the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the Aquaplex and the Badlands Amphitheatre. A federal prison, a regional medical complex and agriculture also contribute. Natural gas and oil replaced coal mining, and the West Drumheller field is Alberta's second largest natural gas field. The town has talked about shifting toward renewables, including wind.

For energy, the visitor season matters. Hotels, motels, restaurants, attractions and campgrounds are busiest in summer, when the sun is also strongest and the days are longest, so their load tends to line up with solar production better than most. The climate is semi-arid, with very cold winters and hot summers.

We read the bill month by month to see how much of the load falls in the sunny season, and whether air conditioning, pools or lighting are driving it. Then we tell you whether solar, LED or neither is the right first step.