A fire has destroyed 90% of the Village of Lytton.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/2 Rivers Remix Society
August 26, 2022 - 7:00 PM
The Village of Lytton could pave the way for Canada’s net-zero energy initiatives with technologies like solar panel sidewalks, according to the mayor.
Three major projects involving solar, wind and water energy within the city will be funded by the federal government’s $77 million grant to help the community rebuild after it was demolished by wildfire in 2021. The province is also providing $21 million towards the rebuild.
More than $60 million of those funds will be used towards rebuilding the village’s public buildings as net zero, so buildings produce only as much energy as they create, said Mayor Jan Polderman.
“Our intention was to go net zero and in order to go net zero you have to be able to generate some power and what better way than to use a renewable energy source like solar,” he said.
READ MORE: 'Sense of future' for Lytton if homes rebuilt by this time next year: B.C. minister
The village will be using models from the same Vancouver company Solar Earth Technologies that installed a solar panel sidewalk at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, he said. In theory, the sidewalks will be able to provide 60 homes with electricity. Each panel puts out about 43 watts of electricity. Right now, they’re 2D panels, but the company’s next prototype will be in 3D to increase the output by 20%, he said.
Photovoltaic solar panels at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
Right now, the village is still in clean-up mode and Polderman expects residents with insurance will be able to begin rebuilding their homes at the end of October. The process has taken a significant amount of time as the soil has large amounts of toxic substances in it and they’re also an Indigenous historic site so it’s taking more time to sift through the large amounts of dirt, he said.
A new building bylaw has created safer home standards and following the province’s energy step codes towards net-zero energy.
“Not only would this grid have solar sidewalks, but I would be looking to add some of those vertically operated wind turbines,” Polderman said, adding they would be wind turbines with a “whirly bird” on top, as opposed to a large propeller. The town would also be looking at adding a microturbine to the water to provide the town.
It’ll take experimentation to find out if these technologies will truly make the community net zero, he said.
“There is risk but the other thing is there will be no advancement without putting in the prototypes and trying these things out,” Polderman said. “At the moment, most residents, the ones with insurance are getting back on their property and getting their houses rebuilt.”
He had no timeline in terms of when the new technology would be installed but possibly within the next few years.
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