First Nations

To the end of 2011, four First Nations have participated in solar projects: the T’Sou-ke First Nation, the West Moberly First Nation, the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, and the  Dzawada'enuxw First  Nation. 

In 2008 to 2010, the first three participating First Nations received  SolarBC Incentives funded by the Government of British Columbia, and were able  to access additional funding from Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program.

In 2011, SolarBC partnered with the Remote Communities Initiative to provide mentoring for First Nations as  they worked through the process of  installing solar hot water systems. The return of the ecoENERGY  Retrofit for  Homes Program  provided additional funding for energy upgrades to homes as well as the installation of solar hot water systems. The  Dzawada'enuxw First  Nation was the first  to complete its solar project under the mentoring program.  

T’Sou-ke First Nation

The 2009 T-Sou'ke Solar Community Project came from a visioning process in which community members looked at ways to sustain themselves down the road, with energy security being a top priority. As a result, 36 homes and the bandhall were outfitted with solar hot water systems, along with a 75 KW photovoltaic system on the fish hatchery, the community hall, and canoe shed. The photovoltaic project demonstrates the viability of solar power for on-grid and off-grid communities. A number of the community members have now been trained as solar installers and are able to provide their expertise to their own community and to neighbouring communities. T’Sou-ke has also developed a Renewable Energy Toolkit to enable other communities to share in their lessons and practices.

During the BC Solar Days Launch and luncheon, held in Vancouver on May 28, 2010, the T’Souke Nation received the Solar Community of the Year Award for 2009. Chief Gordon Planes on accepting the award at the luncheon on behalf of the community said, "We are very honoured that our solar community project at T’Sou-ke Nation is worthy of a Solar BC Award. We have worked very hard to get our solar community project to this stage and it is very satisfying to see that already our members are getting the benefits in terms of lower Hydro bills, more energy conservation awareness, training, jobs and other economic development opportunities."

In 2011 the community hosted the 3rd Annual SolarBC Luncheon and was the recipient of the SolarBC Leadership and Advocacy award for 2010.

Read more about T’Sou-ke on their Solar Community page here.

West Moberly First Nation

The West Moberly First Nation partnered with the City of Dawson Creek in the implementation of a solar hot water program in their community. Five people have been trained by Northern Lights College as SHW installers and two SHW systems were installed, one residential system and one on a lodge. They have adopted targets of one SHW installation by 2010 and 25 percent of homes by 2020. The community held an event celebrating the new installation in July 2010.

Xeni Gwe’tin First Nation

The overall objective of the Xeni Gwe'tin First Nations project, which received funding from SolarBC and the Fraser Basin Council, is to eventually install solar hot water heating on all Xeni Gwet’in First Nation’s houses. This is to be completed in two phases.

Phase one is a pilot stage, now completed, where six selected homes were fitted with two different system types (Enerworks and Thermodynamics) in order to determine the most suitable for the climatic situation and also because some houses have no reliable source of electricity.

The objectives of Phase One were to:

  •  Gain experience with the systems
  • Select the most suitable system or systems depending on the location, orientation, and electrical power supply
  • Determine the level of maintenance required to keep the system in operation
  • Train two community members in the installation and maintenance of Solar Hot Water systems
  • Determine the actual cost and GHG reductions

 Phase two will be to connect the remaining 60 houses with the most suitable systems.

Dzawada'enuxw First  Nation

In the fall of 2011, the Dzawada'enuxw First  Nation had solar hot water systems installed on four houses at their village in Kingcome Inlet on the BC mainland coast.  The village is accessible only by boat and float plane.  The installer, TerraTek, chartered  a fishing boat to ferry the installation crew, their tools, and materials from Vancouver Island.  Two EnerWorks flat plate collectors were installed on each house.