Litton may be the first BC Solar-powered municipality

In June last year, the day after setting a national heat record, the mountain The village of Lytton at 49.6 degrees Celsius, destroyed by a fire, has the potential to become a community of the future.

A fire-torn village located about 190 kilometers northeast of Whistler is planned to be rebuilt as a net zero-emission community. To achieve this, the council plans to power the village using a new technique called the Solar Trail, created by a Vancouver company.

Solar Earth Technologies can not only power homes, but also withstand the weight of a five-ton vehicle or, according to the company's board and CEO Douglas Matthews, a trampled elephant. Manufactures panels. Hardened solar panels can be attached to sidewalks, trails, bike paths, driveways and parking lots.

"Our goal is to help Lytton create a net-zero community. With infrastructure on the sidewalk, enough power to make the entire town net-zero. Can be produced, "Matthews said in an interview this week.

He said that solar sidewalks, which resemble regular sidewalks, are also non-slip and have been tested to withstand the weather.

"We have some important partners with whom we work together to ensure safety, so people can still walk, bike, and never slip or fall. "He said. "A traction layer is built on top to prevent slipping when wet."

For fire, Matthews has been tested for internal flammability, -40 ° C to 90 °. I mentioned that it was designed to operate at C ground temperatures, but it would be unavoidable in another extreme wildfire.

"The Lytton fire was so intense that it would have affected steel and would not have improved the module's fairing," he said, fossils to avoid future catastrophes. The goal is to reduce fuel emissions.

Kamloops' Thompson Rivers University and Tampa, Florida are already using solar-earth power generation trails, with several in China and South Africa, Matthews said. I am. The community follows Lytton striving for net zero emissions using solar-powered sidewalks.

Matthews said that the driveway with the solar sidewalk could supply enough electricity to the whole house and make an electric car. I said it can be charged.

"We have done enough research to show that simply transforming a hard landscape into an energy-producing environment will dramatically reduce the need for fossil fuels," he said. Said.

On the south coast of British Columbia, cloudy and rainy days can last for more than a week at a time, but Matthews says the sidewalks can run for five days without sunlight. It is about. After that, a backup plan such as returning to the power grid is required.

Mayor of Lytton, Jan Polderman, was in Metro Vancouver this week to see the panels on the solar sidewalk. He said the approval passed the council and has a memorandum of understanding with the company to proceed with the plan, but they still consider details such as how much of the village is powered by the sidewalk. ing.

He didn't have to pay for the project, but a tentative estimate is per kilometer. Said it was about $ 500,000. Off the grid saves some of that money and sunlight is considered a cleaner energy than hydropower.

On Thursday, the Government of British Columbia announced that Lytton would receive an additional $ 21 million to help rebuild critical infrastructure and services.

This funding will also be used to rebuild municipal structures and evaluate water and sewerage infrastructure, adding to the state funding of approximately $ 28 million announced earlier this year.

"With funding from both the federal and state governments, this sidewalk project is within our budget," says Polderman. He said their city would spend money to set up sidewalks anyway, so why isn't the landscape producing beautiful power?

"We hope that we can develop a solar trail, and that it will spread in other parts of the world."

According to Mr. Polderman, the village is 9 By the end of the month, all wildfire debris will be wiped out and reconstruction may begin next year.

The energy generated by solar earth is stored in the clean energy storage system and the battery system created by ShiftClean Energy, the globalprovider of microgrids.  

"We are very proud to partner with Solar Earth, Lytton Village, British Columbia. The devastating fire of 2021. Later, to bring the city back to life — turning devastation into a great opportunity in BC, to show what Canadian tech companies can do, ”said Shift CEO Brent Perry. 

ticrawford@postmedia.com

— With files from Canadian Press