By Nowell Berg

On June 22, Canada’s only tracking solar power generation system will be three-years old.

Kimberley’s SunMine started producing electricity in 2015. Since then it has generated just over 4,900 MWh of electricity. The 1MW solar power plant sits on an old Cominco (now Teck) Sullivan mine site.

The first glimmer of the SunMine originated in 2008. Then in 2011, it received $1 million in funding from the Province of B.C., Innovative Clean Energy Fund. Also that year, the City of Kimberley held a referendum asking residents if they approved of borrowing $2 million for SunMine construction. Fully 76% of voters said “yes.” Then in April of 2014, city council voted to proceed with construction.

As part of the SunMine charter, the city told taxpayers they would not be on the hook for operating the solar plant.

“That’s what we promised the taxpayers before we built it. We’ve managed to do that so far and that’s really important to us,” said Scott Sommerville, City of Kimberley chief administrative officer (CAO).

He added, “Ultimately, I’m concerned about making sure there’s enough revenue coming in from the sale of power to pay for the project-debt payments, operation, maintenance and insurance costs.”

Any money left over from those expenses goes into a reserve fund to pay for replacing equipment at SunMine. To date, almost $33,000 has been added to the reserve.

Exposed to over 300 days of sunlight per year, the 4,032 photovoltaic modules mounted on 96 dual axis solar trackers generate enough electricity to power 200 homes for a year.

While standing underneath a large solar panel, you can hear the whirring of motors as they adjust the horizontal and vertical pitch to follow the sun and maximize electricity generation. At SunMine, “36% more energy is generated by tracking the sun [compared to a fixed solar array],” said Sommerville.

While the city has a contract from BC Hydro to purchase power from a second MW solar plant, Sommerville said, “I expect it will be quite some time before the second MW is built.”

He added, “The problem is that there is not much demand from BC Hydro now” for solar generated power. Add to that the falling demand for electricity due to conservation measures and expansion is not on the short-term horizon.

The most significant unanticipated consequence of the SunMine has been the world-wide exposure it has given to Kimberley.

“People are hearing about Kimberley because of the SunMine,” said Sommerville. He added, “The demand for tours has been overwhelming and somewhat unexpected.”

The city has sub-contracted Tod Caton at Resort Tours to assist with the eco-tour demand. So far, almost 2,000 visitors have toured SunMine, from engineers to elementary school students.

Since 2015, the city has won seven awards for the SunMine project. They range from a Community Excellence Award, Community of the Year, Sustainability Award and a Collaboration Award to the Clean 50 Award and Brownie Award. The SunMine has been recognized by Clean Energy BC, Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of BC, Engineers Canada, Community Energy Association and the Canadian Brownfields Network.

The city has a plan for the future. “We want Kimberley to be the place to go for [solar] expertise, we want to be the centre for the solar industry. Much like when people were looking for miners they came to Kimberley because Kimberley had the expertise in generations of miners. When solar takes off we want people to think the same way about Kimberley,” said Sommerville.

SunMine has put Kimberley on the map for clean power generation and eco-tours, and hopefully at the forefront of the Canadian solar power industry.

Photos by Nowell Berg

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