Members of the Upper Nicola Band voted last week to develop what could be B.C.’s largest solar farm on their Quilchena reserve lands.

Ninety-two per cent of the First Nation’s members who voted in the referendum supported the development of the 15-megawatt solar farm.

“In B.C. it will be the largest solar farm by quite a large margin,” said Grant Bierlmeier, FortisBC’s director of business development. Upper Nicola Band is partnering with FortisBC on the project.

Currently, B.C.’s largest solar farm — the SunMine owned by the City of Kimberly — produces one megawatt of electricity, he said.

The First Nation government began looking for a renewable energy project to develop in 2011. They considered solar, wind and geothermal, opting for solar because they could develop the project on their reserve lands in sunny South-Central B.C.

“We wanted to see our membership have something happen on the reserve that they’re going to see every day because it’s right beside the road. They’re going to say that’s ours, we’re doing something for the environment, we’re doing something for the land,” said Upper Nicola Chief Harvey McLeod. “It’s all about hope.”

Over the next 40 years, the solar project is expected to bring some economic benefits to the Upper Nicola Band, but it won’t eliminate economic pressures on the community, he said.

While the voter turnout for the referendum — 24 per cent — was lower than McLeod was hoping for, he said he’s comfortable with the result because of the number of information sessions and meetings they held over the last year-and-a-half to ensure the community was informed about the project.

The next step is confirming the solar resource at the site. Upper Nicola and FortisBC set up a measuring device called a pyranometer in October and will keep it there for a year to confirm the results of previous modelling.

At this point, the measurements from the pyranometer are lining up with the predicted results, Bierlmeier said.

Once the solar farm is operational, the power will be sold directly to BC Hydro, McLeod said, adding that negotiations are ongoing with the utility.

“BC Hydro remains committed to creating opportunities for Indigenous groups to build small, clean energy projects in B.C.,” said Tanya Fish, a spokesperson for the utility, in a statement.

While the utility has also agreed to purchase electricity from the Tsilhqot’in Nation, which is planning a one-megawatt solar project, BC Hydro has just one solar electricity purchase agreement in place with the Kimberly SunMine project.

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Ainslie Cruickshank is a Vancouver-based reporter covering the environment. Follow her on Twitter: @ainscruickshank

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