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New West hosting solar garden gathering today

The City of New Westminster is continuing to sow the seeds of an urban solar garden.
solar panel array
The City of New Westminster is holding a public information session today to present information about its vision for an urban solar garden, possible locations to host the solar array and recent developments in photo-voltaic (PV) technology and examples of community solar projects in B.C. Panels on the solar array will be available during a pre-sale that starts at today's info session.

The City of New Westminster is continuing to sow the seeds of an urban solar garden.

The city is holding a public information session on today to present information about its vision for an urban solar garden, possible locations to host the solar array and recent developments in photo-voltaic (PV) technology and examples of community solar projects in B.C. Panels on the solar array will be available during a pre-sale that starts at this week’s free information session, which is on Thursday, Oct. 19 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Sapperton (RSVP at www.energysavenewwest.ca/usg).

“During the first week of the subscription period, any local residents, businesses or non-profit organization with a New Westminster Electrical Utility account will be able to purchase up to three panels,” read the a statement from the city to the Record. “If solar panels are available for the first week of the subscription period, we will allow interested participants to purchase up to 10 panels.”

The city said it’s received 155 responses to a community survey. Based on the feedback staff received at the first public information event in July, the city believes there’s “significant interest” in solar technologies and a desire to see renewable power being generated locally through a community solar array.

Potential locations for the solar garden include the city’s works yard, city hall and other civic rooftops, with a technical evaluation taking place in the next few months to determine the best spot.

The project would allow residents, businesses, non-profits and institutional organizations served by the New Westminster Electrical Utility to buy a solar panel and use the energy generated by the panel as credits toward their power bills.

“The urban solar garden provides an opportunity for the city-owned Electrical Utility to diversity its services to the community by supplementing its primary source of energy from the B.C. Hydro’s electric grid and locally generated electricity,” said a staff report. “This project will also showcase New Westminster’s climate leadership through the promotion of a high-prolife, local renewal energy project, with the objective of being the first municipal community solar project in the Lower Mainland.”

According to the staff report, community solar gardens are popular in the United States, where there are more than 100 projects in 26 states. New Westminster aims to build on the model set by Nelson Hydro, which operates the first community solar garden in Canada.

For more information about the project and the info session, or to see a 90-second video explaining the urban solar garden, go to www.energysavenewwest.ca.