Mattamy Homes taps into sunny Alberta's solar energy

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Mattamy Homes is going green, pushing solar and geothermal as key parts of its new home builds.

In Alberta, Mattamy has built more than 1,000 homes with solar panels, and in Ontario, it has constructed 1,000 homes with geothermal systems — harnessing the Earth’s energy for heating and cooling.

These two milestones, noted in Mattamy’s recently released 2026 Sustainability Report, show the developer and home builder taking different approaches in different parts of the country.

According to Mattamy, which also builds in American markets including Florida, Dallas and Phoenix, it said it tailors its strategies to meet local market needs and believes there is no one size fits all sustainability solution.

Thus, an Alberta new homebuyer will likely find solar panels included — it made solar panels standard on most models here in mid-2024 —  but that same buyer won’t be able to have the company install geothermal in that same home. Flip the page to a new Ontario single-family home that might qualify for geothermal, yet that buyer won’t be able to add solar. At least not now.

“We actually have not yet crossed those technologies over into the different regions,” said Patrick Marion, senior procurement and sustainability manager for Mattamy Homes Canada’s GTA’s low-rise division. “And the main reason that we’ve focused on solar in Alberta and geothermal in Ontario so far is we’re chasing the most affordable carbon reduction within each market and there’s very differentiating characteristics between the markets.

“So Alberta, primarily with a significantly higher amount of sunlight hours in that province, lends itself to making solar very beneficial and cost effective. And in Ontario, we have very favourable drilling conditions on the west side of the Toronto market, which makes drilling more cost effective in those areas. So currently, they’re very separate in terms of, in each market, where we’re chasing and where we’re choosing to deploy sustainable solutions for our homes.”

As to bringing these sustainability features into the other markets — given that Edmonton does geothermal in the developing Blatchford neighbourhood on the site of the old City Centre airport — Marion said he wouldn’t rule it out in the future.

With more than 1,000 solar panelled homes in Alberta, Mattamy estimates it’s saved homeowners there an estimated $460,000 annually in energy costs.

It also said this has reduced carbon emissions by about 3,200 tonnes per year.

Mattamy’s standard solar offering includes an eight-panel system on all single-family homes, duplex homes and rear-lane townhomes, generating about 3,819 kWh of electricity annually in Calgary and 3,629 kWh in Edmonton.

Mattamy is working with trade partners SkyFire Energy and Zeno Renewables to install solar panels across its Alberta communities.

Sustainability features that are standard for Mattamy homes across Alberta includes solar panels (excluding Village homes), triple-pane windows, improved air tightness and EnerGuide labelling.

According to its 2026 Sustainability Report, Mattamy said it sees sustainability as a core value.

Since setting its first greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target in 2024, Mattamy said it has continued to exceed its reduction targets each year. In its 2026 fiscal year, which ended May 31, it notes it surpassed its goal of achieving a 14 per cent GHG reduction in its sold homes as compared to code-built homes. For the 2027 fiscal year, it said it’s reaffirming this target.

But while sustainability remains important, Mattamy said for fiscal year 2026 the top priority issue for it, the homebuilding industry and homebuyers, was housing attainability (the ability to enter the housing market) and affordability (the capacity to manage the ongoing costs of home ownership). It adds that across North America, this issue is affecting both first-time buyers and homeowners looking to move up.

While Mattamy has two newer neighbourhoods in the Edmonton region — Stillwater in the southwest and Hearthstone in Sherwood Park — it’s expanding in Calgary.

In addition to Carrington, Cityscape and Yorkville in Calgary, and Southwinds in Airdrie, Mattamy has two new communities on tap.

In June, Mattamy acquired 153 acres in southeast Calgary in Belvedere. The new community, still to be named, will offer a mix of single-family homes, semi-detached homes and townhomes and is located in the area between 17th Avenue S.E., the Trans-Canada Highway and the City of Chestermere. The first residents are expected to move in early 2030. Full buildout is expected to take approximately seven years, completing in 2037. Residents will enjoy more than 13 acres of parks and trails.

Meanwhile, Mattamy and Truman are teaming up to create a brand-new 253-acre master-planned community on the south edge of Chestermere Lake in the City of Chestermere. The two builders will deliver approximately 1,900 homes. Home construction is anticipated to begin in summer 2028 with the first homeowners moving in early 2029. The full community is expected to be completed by late 2039.