Six public buildings in Hudson's Hope will soon be ready to harness the power of the sun.
The district is aiming to finish installing municipal solar systems at the arena, public works shop, Bullhead Mountain Curling Club, visitor centre, sewage treatment plant, and district office by the end of the fiscal year. All told, the solar panels will generate 307 kilowatt hours of power once in operation.
"When completed, this will be the largest municipal solar array in B.C.," Mayor Gwen Johansson said.
"We are proud to be a leader in electricity self-generation, and appreciate the BC Hydro net-metering initiative that helps us achieve it."
The panels are being funded with a $1.35-million federal gas tax grant. Once installed, Johansson estimates the district will save $50,000 each year in electricity costs, or $1.5 million over 30 years.
"That's calculated using present rates and future rate increases will enhance that savings considerably," Johansson said.
Dawson Creek-based Peace Energy Cooperative is leading the installation. Its expertise and experience ranges from installations in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek to Charlie Lake, Mile 108 and Demmit, Alta.
Each building has been carefully designed to match its usage, so the panels won't feed very much energy back into the grid, company officials say.
By design, grid-tie systems can't operate independently. When excess electricity is available, it's sent to the main grid. In B.C., this excess electricity is credited by BC Hydro over a one-year period at a rate of 10 cents per kWh.
"There's no batteries, these are all simple grid-tie systems," said Don Pettit, vice-president of the Peace Energy Cooperative, and regular Alaska Highway News energy columnist.
"The smart meter that's on each building keeps track of how much power we put in and how much it pulls out. The only the building that is 100 per cent solar would be the curling rink. It's power usage is completely covered."
Hudson's Hope is not the first community in the Peace to use solar power for public infrastructure.
In 2010, Fort St. John was named Solar Community of the Year for a series of policies promoting solar power, including rebates for solar hot water system installations, and installing solar power at city hall, the public works shop, bus shelters, crosswalk lights, and at North Peace Secondary under a partnership with the school district.
In 2012, Dawson Creek was named Canada's first solar city by the Canadian Solar Cities Project.
