Solar-powered ice cream shop in Edmonton 

A new ice cream shop in Edmonton uses solar panels and battery packs to keep their ice cream cool for their customers. The new ice cream shop called Bestie opened in Edmonton’s Crestwood neighbourhood on Tuesday.

“One of our core values as a business is kindness and that includes kindness to the environment,” said Candyce Morris, co-owner of Kind Ice Cream and Bestie.

“First time having bestie since they’ve been open for two days, but we are very big fans of Kind,” said Karli, customer.

Instead of powering the ice cream shop through an electricity grid, its being powered by battery packs, that’s being charged by solar panels.

“I think it’s a great addition to the community, and I think it’s a great concept,” said Melissa, customer.

“One of our core values as a business is kindness and that includes kindness to the environment and we knew when we moved to having Bestie that we wanted to continue with those same values,” said Morris.  “And when we looked at it, we knew we’d be off-grid.”

“It is really crazy that we just have these massive solar panels that power everything,” said Meghan, staff of Bestie and Kind Ice Cream.

The panels and batteries are from an Edmonton-based company called Grengine.

The CEO of Grengine says they typically work with the Canadian armed forces and are glad to branch out.

“It’s been awesome,” said Connie Stacey, CEO and founder of Grengine. “It’s nice to do things local and see a local impact. Not that our other projects aren’t obviously important and awesome in their own way. But you don’t get to go visit the arctic circle very often so I can come here and have ice cream.”

The owner of Kind Ice Cream said if this summer goes well, they could grow to have as many as five solar powered shops around Edmonton in the coming years.