West 5 , the Sifton Properties residential and commercial development in London’s west end, has taken a big step toward becoming a community that will generate as much energy as it uses.

The development has recently overcome provincial government hurdles to install solar panels on 73 townhouse units that were not previously approved.

It’s a small example of complex energy policy giving way to common sense, putting West 5 on track to becoming a net-zero community, said Richard Sifton, president of Sifton Properties.

“This is the only way we could become a net-zero community. We can now overproduce (electricity) and share it to the community,” he said.

“We pulled it together. London Hydro helped, the city helped.”

West 5 is a 28-hectare (70-acre) development on Oxford Street West where 2,000 housing units share space with 350,000 square feet (31,500 square metres) of commercial and retail space.

It has an aggressive green energy plan to be self-sustaining, but that hit a roadblock when Sifton wanted to install solar panels on 73 townhouses at Kains and Shore roads. If Sifton did install them, it would not get a break on its energy bill because the panels would create more energy than what is being used in each townhouse unit. Such surpluses are discouraged by the Energy Ministry and Ontario Energy Board, Sifton said. The government does not want to pay for energy generation that is not needed.

But Sifton convinced the ministry to allow energy gathered at the townhouse units to be used by nearby apartments that are part of the complex.

That energy-sharing plan between developments in the same community is a step toward entire communities becoming self-sustaining and not relying on the grid, said Neil Carter, director of commercial construction with Sifton.

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