When looking for a Saskatchewan home, Sycamore Energy Inc. found Moose Jaw to be the obvious choice for its new headquarters.
“The heart of our clientele is in rural locations. Rural Saskatchewan and southern Saskatchewan is really where we wanted to be. Our core market is the Ag sector. We certainly service all types of installations, whether it be agricultural, residential or commercial, but 95 per cent of our business is in rural locations. Since we started our business 10 years ago we’ve always tried to support where we’re supported,” Justin Phillips, CEO and Founding Partner for Sycamore Energy. “We felt that Moose Jaw was the perfect opportunity. It’s a smaller city where we could work with local officials and residents and really give back to the community that services and supports our company. Southern Saskatchewan and the Moose Jaw area is the best solar resources in Canada. It just made sense to locate in a city like Moose Jaw.”
Sycamore Energy is a full-service solar energy installation company based in Winnipeg that provides renewable energy systems. Phillips said he has been blown away by the welcome the company has received from the City of Moose Jaw, the Chamber of Commerce and other civic leaders.
“I am shocked — and I do mean that truthfully — by the amount of support and open arms that we’ve received from the community,” Phillips said. “Everybody knows everybody and that’s what we like about Moose Jaw. We’re excited to not only be successful in Moose Jaw but to show off Moose Jaw as a place where you can start a business and be successful and showcase that the skill sets are there.”
Phillips and COO Alex Stuart co-founded Global Wind Group Inc. in 2008. In 2012, they rebranded as Sycamore Energy Inc. as they shifted their focus from wind energy to solar power. They are a privately held company and Sycamore is the parent company for Solar Manitoba and Sycamore Electric Inc.
The company employees 38 people in their head office in Manitoba. Sycamore set up their subsidiary in Saskatchewan using local lawyers and insurance agents.
“We opened an office in Dauphin, Manitoba and we did the same thing,” Phillips said. “We strongly believe in local support. There are the skill sets in the areas where we are opening up that can do what we need, whether it be insurance or legal matters. We’re doing our best to use all local talent.”
Andrew Meyer, Director of Sales for Sycamore Energy, rented a condo in downtown Moose Jaw a month ago to get the project off the ground locally. He has been busy meeting clients and selling installations.
Sycamore is hoping to open their Moose Jaw office by May 1 at the latest so they can be up and running to install solar energy systems once the snow is all gone.
“We did a fairly decent push from a sales and marketing perspective last summer,” Phillips said. “We’ve actively been pursuing business out there for several months. (Meyer) has been out there for a month getting things started. We’re hoping to have a facility set up by May 1 when our installations start because we have started to acquire customers. As soon as the spring thaw hits, we’re going to start our installations.”
Phillips said that they are going to start hiring employees in the spring. Sycamore is looking to hire electricians, sub-trades, installers, labourers and administrative staff to support sales and operations. He said they are likely to hire 18-24 people in the next 12-18 months. He said that they would prefer to buy an existing building and they have looked at several sites already. Given the nature of the business, Phillips said they will need about two-thirds warehouse space versus one-third office space.
“It is a pleasure to be part of this announcement,” said Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie in a release. “We are very excited that Sycamore Energy is making its Saskatchewan headquarters in Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw is the perfect location for this office, and we are thrilled that there are new highly skilled jobs coming to Moose Jaw. We look forward to welcoming and working with Sycamore Energy in the coming years.”
Two SaskPower initiatives make the move to solar energy more attractive. The provincial utility company offers a one-time rebate equivalent to 20 per cent of equipment and installation costs for solar power, up to a maximum of $20,000.
SaskPower’s Net Metering Program allows customers to generate up to 100 kilowatts of power to count against their monthly bill. They can also get credit for the excess power that they generate and bank those credits for up to three years. That program has been approved until Nov. 30, 2021, or until the total capacity of the program hits a cap of 16 megawatts.
“There’s an excellent rebate available to all types of instillations and customers. The Ag sector is a great opportunity because they are used to hedging against increases whether it be grain, seeds, fertilizer, etc. They’re essentially hedging against electricity costs,” Phillips said.
“I think we can agree that electricity costs are going up. At the table, we can debate how much, but I think we can all agree that they’re only going up.
Sycamore Energy expects that the local and surrounding economy of Moose Jaw will see an economic benefit of more than $1 million of direct and indirect investment in the first year.
