Solar projects moving along

Photo: Chelsea Powrie

Sustainability officer Tami Rothery explains early findings of the Solar+Storage site selection process.

Two upcoming solar projects in the District of Summerland made more progress at Monday morning's Committee of the Whole meeting. 

Council unanimously passed a recommendation to accept a $25,000 grant from the North Growth Foundation for a "Solar Now" project in Summerland, as well as contributing $30,000 of district funds. 

The project will see solar panels installed on the roofs of both the Arts & Cultural Centre and Municipal Hall. 

According to Tami Rothery, sustainability coordinator, the two buildings were chosen during an extensive study of where solar panels would be most effective. 

"The energy that they produce would firstly be used by the building itself," she said. "In a situation where the panels were producing more energy than what the building was producing, that would go back into the grid through a net meter. In that way, we would be offsetting any purchases from Fortis."

Around 60 per cent of the buildings' electricity is expected to be taken care of by the panels.

The $30,000 from the district will be taken from the unallocated surplus fund, which chief administrative officer Linda Tynan estimates is at about $1 million. 

Rothery added that this solar project is related to a larger, five-acre solar array planned. 

"It's about education and demonstration, to walk the talk a little bit, to show that this isn't just something that works on a large scale but works at a local level," she said. 

Council also heard an update on the larger array, known as the Solar+Storage Project, which is funded by a $6M grant from the federal government. Unfortunately, some errors in the official report exploring potential sites for the array have caused its delay. Rothery explained that site selection is the "most critical piece" of the project, so the research into options has to be thorough. 

"We have 30 ideal locations identified," she said, though the exact sites, all of which are on district land, will not be identified until the report is made public.

Options include sites which are large enough to encompass the entire array and some which would require splitting it into sections. The report will go into detail on the pros and cons of splitting the site, as well as break down data like the potential efficiency, ease of maintenance and security and potential to disrupt agricultural land. 

In order to "keep the project moving and going," as Tynan put it, council voted to direct city staff to begin work on the next phases of the project as soon as the full report becomes available, rather than needing to wait to vote at another council meeting. 

Next steps will include confirming a shortlist, engaging the community in various ways and putting together a detailed analysis and recommendation to present back to council, which Tynan expects won't happen until October.