B.C. community opens solar farm 100 per cent owned and operated by First Nation

Solar panels seen in this stock photo. (Carl Attard / Pexels)

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The chief of a small Indigenous community in British Columbia's Interior says he expects the power to go on any day now for what will be among the first solar farm 100 per cent owned and operated by a First Nation in the province.

Chief Russell Myers Ross of the Yunesit'in in British Columbia's Chilcotin region west of Williams Lake says the 1.25-megawatt hours per year project is also among the largest solar farms in the province.

The Yunesit'in, which has about 250 members living locally and another 200 registered outside the community, is one of six communities that comprise the larger Tsilhqot'in Nation.

The Tsilhqot'in solar farm consists of 3,456 solar modules that will convert the sun's rays into electricity, which will then be sold to BC Hydro to generate revenue shared by each of the member nations.

With capacity to generate enough energy to power between 130 and 150 homes, it's small on a global scale but large for British Columbia.

Ross says the community began pursuing the project because the cost of living is so high in the remote community and members saw it as an opportunity to generate income while moving toward the goal of self-sufficiency.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2019.