They’ll be playing and having fun, thanks to the warm Tsleil-Waututh sun.
The Tsleil-Waututh daycare is almost entirely powered by sunshine following the installation of a massive solar tracker panel this week.
Measuring approximately 18 by 12 metres, the German-built rotating panel is expected to take care of 90 per cent of the daycare’s power needs over the next 25 years.
“Part of the concept is to teach kids about alternatives as well as providing support for the daycare,” explained Dale Komanchuk, director of public works for the Tsleil-Waututh.
The panel, which converts sunlight into electricity via photovoltaic cells, shifts position every 10 minutes, rotating east to west to track the sun. Over summer months, the dish will be relatively flat, according to Komanchuk.
Slated to produce 19,500 kilowatt hours per year, the panel is the second of its kind in Western Canada, following the installation of a similar structure at a private home in Penticton earlier this year.
“One of the objectives of the community is to be as environmentally sensitive as possible, so we’re looking at generating our own power as much as we can,” Komanchuk said.
The idea for the panel was bandied about when the band’s energy company, TWN Wind Power, looked to diversify.
“Given that there isn’t a lot of prevailing wind on the reserve, solar made the most sense,” Komanchuk said.
The panel’s installation comes while the band continues to pursue a legal challenge in the hopes of halting Kinder Morgan’s planned oil pipeline expansion.
The solar project is meant to show that there are alternatives to “increasing pipelines and sending resources overseas,” according to Komanchuk.
The cost of the $70,000 panel was shared between the band, Vancity, and Bullfrog Power.
The photoelectric effect was discovered by French physicist Edmund Becquerel in 1839. Becquerel noted certain materials produced small amounts of electric current after absorbing light.
Note: This story has been modified since first posted.
