Dear Editor:
Congratulations to Summerland council and staff for demonstrating significant initiative, foresight and leadership in developing an initial project for alternate energy production.
Kudos to the sustainability coordinator Tami Rothery; a job very well done!
With the announcement of financing for a 1MW solar array with battery backup systems, council is showing the way ahead in municipal distributed energy production.
Although a small project providing only a small percentage of Summerland’s overall energy needs it is a good start for the community and a point from which to continue the build-out to full energy self-sufficiency.
Now is the time for the owners of the larger roofed buildings in town proper to be researching how their dormant building coverings can provide heretofore unrealized income while reducing energy expenses and become the next part of a total community move to self-sufficiency.
As part of this project, council has identified the need to upgrade the electrical utility system.
We need this improvement to facilitate the eventual inclusion of the greater residential and business communities in this effort.
Much work, planning and preparation remains to be done before the project comes to fruition; however, Summerland residents need not wait to start planning for their inclusion.
Much information is available from our sustainability coordinator, on line and in local libraries.
We now need council to begin removing obstacles, while developing permissive policies, procedures and reasonable fees to facilitate greater community participation with privately owned, cooperative, or stratified distributed alternate energy production systems.
Well done Summerland!
A.J. Jerry Flaman
Summerland