What's New in Tofino

SolarBC would like to give a huge thank-you to the communities and organizations that participated in this year's activities and for their hard work in organizing and implementing their Solar Days events, all of which has been a fantastic success on a whole. As well, all of our homeowners who hosted the open houses deserve a province-wide round of applause! Many were not expecting the huge crowds that came out and for their generosity and hospitality, as well as their enthusiasm in sharing their solar experiences with others we are very grateful.

Please keep an eye on our website for future pictures of all the events, which we will be posting as we get them in.

We hope you are as excited as we are for this year’s BC Solar Days!

The District of Tofino was present at the 2009 Solar Summit, held in Vancouver on February 20th. Aaron Rodgers, with Development Services, was on panel for the Solar Communities workshop.

SolarBC's goal with this session was to inform municipalities of the SolarBC Communities and for these communities to share their progress and their goals and address their challenges and targets.

The official SolarBC Community of Tofino is pleased to provide a $500 grant for the installation of solar hot water systems to two selected homeowners, as part of a SHW installers' demonstration/training project. The purpose of this incentive is to develop expertise locally, so further solar hot water installations will be supplied by our community businesses. The two demonstration/training projects will be installed under the supervision of a Northern Lights College trainer and a Registered SolarBC Installer. These field experts are certified by the Canadian Solar Industry Association and experienced SHW installers.

“Our interest in the program stems from both an awareness of the remoteness of communities on the West Coast of Vancouver Island; and the potential to be a municipal leader in alternative energy use,” explains Aaron Rodgers, with the district’s Development Services.

“The little community that can” should be the motto for the District of Tofino. Despite being known as one of the greyest regions in BC the small coastal town has eagerly jumped aboard to receive the distinction as one of six flagship SolarBC Communities.

“We’re exploring how effective (solar) can be out here, where we tend to have a lot of cloud distribution,” says Mayor John Fraser. “But I think it will work very positively.”