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A look at the Caribbean festival parade dancing its way downtown

CTV News

10-08-2025

Entertainment
CTV News

A look at the Caribbean festival parade dancing its way downtown

The Cariwest Caribbean Arts Festival saw a large crowd for its parade on Aug. 9, 2025. (Cameron Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton) While Friday saw the official beginning of Cariwest Caribbean Arts Festival, Saturday's parade kicked off the full celebration of colour and culture in Edmonton's downtown. The three-day festival's afternoon parade began at 108 Street and Jasper Avenue and danced its way east to Sir Winston Churchill Square. Cariwest festival stilts edmonton A woman on stilts walks in the Cariwest Festival on Aug. 9, 2025. (Cameron Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton) 'The Cariwest Festival is really about being inclusive,' said the event's president, Samantha Alexander. 'It's celebrating Caribbean culture. So it is a way to keep that culture alive, but it's also an opportunity to introduce it to the rest of Edmonton.' Cariwest Festival Edmonton Many people dressed up for the festivities. Aug. 9, 2025. (Cameron Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton) Festivities continue in the square on Saturday until 11 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Both Saturday and Sunday will see DJ entertainment, food trucks and market vendors. Food - Cariwest Edmonton Food trucks and stands are all around the festival. (Cameron Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton) There's also a kids zone for children aged between one and six, for arts and crafts. They'll also have the opportunity to play steel pan and walk on stilts. A full schedule can be found on the festival's website. With files from CTV News Edmonton's Cameron Wiebe and Adrienne Lee

Virtual power plant under construction in Blatchford

CTV News

24-06-2025

Business
CTV News

Virtual power plant under construction in Blatchford

Blatchford Lands is home to a new virtual power plant, to be made up of 100 solar-powered homes with batteries. (Cameron Wiebe) Edmonton is home to a new virtual power plant. The plant is made up of 100 batteries deployed throughout the solar-powered Blatchford Lands, a community planned around net-zero living and reduced environmental footprint in north central Edmonton. Epcor senior manager of grid transformation Chris Chapelsky explains that excess energy from solar panels normally flows directly into the power grid during daylight hours. That isn't the case of the Blatchford homes with batteries. 'What's unique about this system is the batteries in the home will store the excess energy, and then through the sonnen control system and the virtual power plant, it will put that energy onto the grid when the price is high and when the grid needs it,' he added. sonnen battery A sonnen battery can be seen in a new home in Blatchford Plains. The battery will be one of 100 in the community by 2027 as part of the community's new virtual power plant. (Cameron Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton) Unlike a central power plant, the batteries will operate as a fleet to provide the community with emergency back-up power, help with overall management of the power grid and make more money on its extra energy. The project began a year ago. Chapelsky said about 10 per cent of the homes with panels and batteries have been sold, with 100 per cent expected to be built and operational by 2027. The power plant is being launched by sonnen, a global energy storage company, in collaboration with Landmark Homes, Epcor, Solartility and the University of Alberta. Following the prototype project at Blatchford, sonnen plans to launch other virtual power plants throughout Alberta and across Canada over the next three years.