Solar panels installed by the District of Houston continue to provide a benefit 11 years after they went into service.
And now the panels in Steelhead Park are to be serviced, a monitor screen repaired that provides information on the function of the solar panels and repairs done on the project’s information kiosk.
“This work should be completed this summer,” said District of Houston chief administrative officer Michael Dewar of the repairs.
Wide-turning trucks are believed responsible for the damage to the kiosk.
Power generated throught the panels help providing lighting in the park and power to the District’s electric vehicle charging port in the park.
But the panels have a direct financial benefit as power not being used by the District is fed into the BC Hydro grid, said Dewar.
“We are getting credit for the excess energy production,” he added.
That credit is then deducted from what the District owes BC Hydro for its own power use.
The solar panel installation dates back to 2011 when the District received money from the provincial government for a solar power demonstration building project proposed by a group called the Energy Centre of the North Society.
That society and the project never bore fruit so the District instead used the money it received to place the solar panels in Steelhead Park to provide power for District amenities there.
All told the cost then was tagged at $100,000 for the panels, monitors, information panels and kiosk.
“The solar demonstration kiosk and solar array panels would be a tourist attraction to complement the District’s commitment to green energy,” read a portion of a July 2011 memo to the council of the day.