January 2017 | Business View Magazine

130 131 Kimberley, BRITISH COLUMBIA offers diverse business and cultural opportunities, and sees its residents employed within the community, throughout the region and beyond. In 2008, an organization called EcoSmart approached the town and Teck Resources with this thought… “You know, you’re in the sunniest part of BC and you have all this land that you’re not using; maybe you should consider some solar devel- opment to take advantage of the resources you have.” The seed was planted and refined over the next three years to include a business plan and possible fund- ing sources. BC municipalities need public consent to borrow money, so during the 2011 election, a borrow- ing referendum was placed on the ballot: “Would the community sup- port borrowing $2 million towards construction of a solar project?” The response was remarkable; 76 per- cent in favor. And SunMine became a reality. Built on a former mine brownfield, the $5.3 million SunMine project began commercial operation in June 2015 and was jointly developed by Kimberley, EcoSmart, a non-profit organization based in Vancouver, and Teck Resources Limited, former operator of the Sullivan Mine and owner of the industrial site. Sun- Mine has 4,032 solar-cell modules, mounted on 96 solar trackers which follow the sun’s movement to maximize solar exposure. It provides 1 megawatt peak production, or enough to power about 250 homes. The invest- ment in what became BC’s largest solar project, Canada’s largest solar tracking facility, and the first solar project in the province to sell power to the BC Hydro grid, brought unexpected and welcome attention to Kimberley. Wilson notes, “The publicity has created awareness that we are a resilient, environmen- tally-conscious community that’s taking a histo- ry of resource development, and capitalizing on the resources we have now on land that is not otherwise being used. In the first 18 months of operation we generated 2,000 megawatt hours (98% of the energy we expected), and we’ve earned $200,000 per year (92% of ex- pected revenue). We had budgeted $35,000 a year to clean the panels, but the rain and snow have done that for us, so cleaning hasn’t cost us anything.” Kimberley has a population of 6700 and its residents work throughout the area. Just 30 km to the south, the city of Cranbrook (population 20,000) provides many employment oppor- tunities. It is the regional service center for southeastern BC; home to government services,