The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) is dedicated to ensuring that "all needs are met in sustainable ways". To that end, the SES wanted to advance renewable energy in Saskatchewan by making it accessible to as many people as possible. The SES developed the idea of the SES Solar Co-operative Ltd., and in December of 2014 they entered a social enterprise, crowd-funded competition by Affinity Credit Union to further this endeavour. Public response to the solar power co-operative was enormous. The Affinity CU competition raised over $100,000, including the $50,000 grand prize. With sustainability at the forefront, the project began to take flight.