The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District is using gas tax money to help it go solar in Area D.
The solar panels would be installed as a retrofit for lighting at the Britannia Beach and Furry Creek wastewater treatment plants. The scope of the project is also to include solar lighting plans for other facilities in Area D.
For this plan, the SLRD agreed to submit an expression of interest to the Community Energy Leadership Program (CELP) for the 2016 intake of grant applications for the Area D Solar Photovoltaic Renewable Energy Initiative.
The board is using up to $75,000 from the Electoral Area D Gas Tax Community Work funds to put toward the CELP grant in order to meet funding requirements of the grant application and complete the work, should the SLRD receive the grant.
“We have some money that’s difficult to spend because there are strings attached to it, but if we go ahead with this solar project, that would qualify,” Area D Director Tony Rainbow said.
At a committee meeting last November, the electoral area directors’ committee passed a resolution for the $10,000 to support a feasibility study to look at the retrofit of the wastewater plant at Furry Creek and Britannia Beach. The study would also consider solar lighting options for Oliver’s Landing, the Britannia Mine Museum and potentially other Area D facilities.
Coincidentally, Rainbow has been talking with the Britannia Mine Museum to look at using solar power for heating water for the gold-panning operation at the museum.
“We could end up with two solar installations at Britannia Beach,” he said. “We’re looking at putting some solar panels on top of the gift shop.”
Currently, the mine museum is using a propane-powered heater, which Rainbow says is expensive to maintain and produces greenhouse gas emissions.
“The Mine Museum are trying to be good citizens, good community members,” Rainbow said.
The solar panels would allow the museum to heat the water but also produce excess power that can help reduce operation costs further.
For this project, the mine would potentially put in $10,000, the same amount as the regional district, though the project is expected to require some further financing.
The idea with these solar projects, Rainbow said, is to set an example for other communities. It is also fits in with the regional district’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The idea is to do it in such a way that it’s an exemplar,” he said. “You put those kinds of goals in place, and too often you say the things and nothing ever happens.”
The provincial government website says that CELP was established in 2015 “to support local government and First Nations investments in energy efficiency and clean energy projects.”
Its main goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, stimulate economic activity in the clean energy sector and support vibrant, resilient communities.
It supports community-owned energy generation projects from clean or renewable resources such as biomass, biogas, geothermal heat, hydro, solar, ocean or wind.
