Solar panels on every roof.

Electric vehicle charging stations just around the corner.

Pools filled by rain and recycled water and heated by energy generated from 2,000 new homes, condos, apartments and businesses.

It sounds far-fetched, like an eco-paradise from the West Coast or Scandinavia.

Think again. Think London, Ontario.

Sifton Properties unveiled plans Friday for the Village at River Bend, a community to built in west London that the company says “will be one of the world’s most advanced communities built with new technologies.”

The development will be built on a “smart grid” whereby energy generated by the rooftop solar panels on buildings will be used to power homes and businesses.

“It’s a excellent opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t and adjust,” chief executive Richard Sifton said. “If it turns out as best as it can, I hope it will be a new way to create communities in Ontario and across Canada,” .

Mayor Joni Baechler said River Bend Village will be a showpiece environmental project for the city.

“It’s great to see a local developer leading a sustainable energy community. Londoners will sit up and take notice of this.”

The city should get behind the project but isn’t allowed to offer financial help such as “bonusing” in the development stage, she said.

The cutting-edge project is possible because solar and other alternative energies are reaching the tipping point where they can compete with fossil fuel and other traditional energy sources, Sifton said.

He calls the Village at River Bend a 21st-century version of Berkshire Village, the residential development Sifton completed in Westmount in the 1970s — but with more commercial amenities such as grocery stores.

The development will be different than Sifton’s nearby gated golf community.

River Bend Village would include single-family, townhouse condos and highrise rental units — with a wide price range.

The company will look for help for the provincial government to help pay for capital cost of the energy technology, Sifton said.

The company is partnering with S2E, a St. Jacob-based business that specializes in solar energy.

S2E chief executive Milfred Hammerbacher said planning a community from scratch means energy can be shared. Surplus heat generated by a grocery store could be used for a community greenhouse garden.

Hammerbacher said he’s confident River Bend Village will be unique in the world after presenting the concept at a conference of global energy experts in Montreal.

“After my talk they told me it was ‘unbelievable — so much further that what we’ve been able to do,’ ” Hammerbacher said.

Unlike other green energy projects, River Bend Village will use the energy it produces instead of simply delivering it the provincial power system.

“If hydro prices double in the next 10 years, they won’t be in River Bend because it will be produced naturally,” Sifton said.

River Bend Village will still be connected to the city grid, delivering surplus power during the day and drawing power at night.

But Hammerbacher said there are plans to test storage batteries systems that would truly enable to the village to go “off the grid.”

Sifton said the first building — an office and presentation centre — will be constructed on the site next year, but it could take 15 years to complete the village.

hank.daniszewski@sunmedia.ca

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The Village at River Bend

28 hectares bounded by Oxford St. W., Kains Rd., Shore Rd. and Westdel Bourne

2,000 single-family homes, condos and apartment units

400,000 sq. ft of commercial-retail space

Environmental features