Sechelt councillor Mike Shanks reopened the discussion about installing solar panels at the District’s new sewage treatment plant after hearing some negative comments from the public.
He asked to pull the solar panel recommendation from the Sept. 3 council meeting agenda, which detailed spending upwards of $100,000 on solar panels to achieve three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits related to the sewage treatment plant build.
“I’ve had a few people contact me in regards to the advisability in terms of doing the solar panel system, installing it, and the time frame for payback being an issue over the duration of the specific plant itself,” Shanks said.
“The other question arising is, if we were to be building to a gold LEED standard, why was this not a consideration at the time?”
Chief of innovation and growth Ron Buchhorn said the District had planned on obtaining three LEED credits for the project through a “transportation allowance” from the start but that upon closer investigation it was found “not possible in communities like ours.”
Two other options to get the credits were to look at providing a way of measurement “which didn’t make any sense in terms of a payback perspective,” and installing solar panels.
“The best alternative they could find was the solar panels,” Buchhorn said.
While the builder for the sewage treatment plant is responsible for the majority of credits required to achieve a gold LEED standard, the District must provide three by way of a contract or risk a penalty and possible legal action.
When the question was called to endorse a recommendation for up to $100,000 for a solar energy project at the wastewater treatment plant, all but councillors Alice Lutes and Shanks were in favour and the motion passed.
