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Island school goes solar

The solar-power energy system that lights up False Bay School on Lasqueti Island passed a major test this fall when the tiny two-classroom building suddenly went dark.

That was when Principal Reid Wilson discovered the school's back-up power source, a diesel generator, had broken down and the West Coast school had been running totally on solar energy during the dark, wet, dreary October days.

"It was just kicking out tons of power to the point where we virtually didn't run our generators at all," he said, standing in the school's solar-panel storage shed as rain pelted the roof.

"We didn't even know (the generator) was broken for a while," Wilson said.

Wilson said what started as an over-the-fence conversation between neighbours about renewable energy a decade ago, turned into a project to bring solar power to the 30-student, kindergarten to Grade 8 school.

Lasqueti Island, named by a Spanish naval officer in 1791, is located off the east side of Vancouver Island in the middle of the Strait of Georgia.

The island is accessible by passenger-only vessels and is off the provincial power grid, which forces residents to embrace alternate energy options to light their homes and power appliances.

The formal flick of the solar switch at the school happened last March, and the results have been illuminating, Wilson said.

"This model was somewhere in the order of $300,000 to put in, mostly funded by the taxpayer, but the payback period is ... about $25,000 a year of saved fuel," he said. "I imagine in a little over a decade, essentially as far as the taxpayers is concerned, we're going to be powering our school for free."

The project will cut diesel fuel use from about 16,000 litres annually to about 6,000 litres, reducing carbon emissions by about 28 tonnes a year.



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