TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE - Nahanni Butte could be home to the first solar-powered building in the Deh Cho region by next spring if a project proposal receives funding.

David Overall stands in front of the community gym in Nahanni Butte on Oct. 22. Overall says he is waiting for funding approval to start installing a solar power system on the gym's roof. - Kassina Ryder/NNSL photo

"Earlier this year, I thought there might be a couple buildings in town that might be decent candidates for solar power," project manager David Overall said. "It's my second year here and I consider this my home now and I'm kind of an environmentalist."

Overall, a volunteer at Charles Yohin School in Nahanni Butte, is currently applying for funding through the Community Renewable Energy Fund portion of the Alternative Energy Technologies Program.

Wade Carpenter, energy specialist with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the program provides half the cost of installing alternative energy systems, such as solar panels, up to a maximum of $50,000.

Communities are responsible for funding the other half of the project, but they can use in-kind payments such as educational programming to teach students and community members about alternative energy, as their portion of the cost, Carpenter said.

"They put in the in-kind contributions through the educational components, and we can produce up to $50,000 which can cover the entire cost of the system," he said.

Showing community members how their alternative energy system works gives a community a sense of ownership, Carpenter said.

"It really has to come from the community," he said.

That sense of ownership can also help reduce the risk of vandalism, Carpenter added.

"[Solar panels] make good rock targets," he said. "If students know about it and the community is familiar with it, there is less likely to be vandalism."

Overall said providing alternative methods of payment can make it easier for communities to obtain systems.

"It's a really great way, especially for isolated communities, to have access to this sort of renewable technology," he said.

Despite dark winters in the Northwest Territories, Carpenter said solar panels are still an effective way to produce energy.

"Solar obviously doesn't work well in the dark periods in the NWT," he said. "But when you add up the amount of sun we get throughout the summer and average it out over the entire year, it's actually quite a bit of energy."

While Nahanni Butte's community gym won't be able to rely completely on solar power year-round, Carpenter said it is possible to run a building completely on solar power in the summer, depending on the size of the building and the panels.

"In the middle of summer if it's sunny out and you've got a solar panel and if it's a big enough system, you could be running 100 per cent of the gym's power with solar," he said.

In the winter, the solar power produced will supplement the gym's existing electrical power.

"It's called a grid-tied system," Carpenter said. "The solar panels attach to the power grid and they supplement the gym's power."

For large buildings, power produced from solar panels can be distributed to other areas of the building.

For an isolated building like the Nahanni Butte gym, any surplus power the building doesn't use can be sold.

"If it's an isolated gym, you can sell power back onto the electrical grid if you happen to produce in excess of what the gym can use," he said.

The department is currently working on a program that allows alternative energy users to sell their excess power, Carpenter said.

There is no funding in place to maintain solar panel systems once the initial installation is complete, but they require little upkeep, Carpenter said.

"Because there are no moving parts with solar panels, the maintenance is extremely low," he said.

Building owners only need to climb up to the solar panels and wipe them free of dust and debris in the spring and again in the fall.

"Really, the only maintenance on these things is wiping the panels down twice a year," he said.

Overall said he is still in the process of determining if the gym in Nahanni Butte can support a system, but he said he is optimistic that the project will be approved for funding.

"There are a couple steps we have to go through before it actually gets approved so we can physically get the solar panels here," he said. "At this point, it's looking pretty promising."

Looking at which companies can deliver a system within the budget is the next step, Overall said, adding he would like to contract a Northern company, if possible.

He estimated it would cost approximately $45,000 to install a five-kilowatt system, based on information from other communities. Sachs Harbour and Inuvik installed alternative energy systems earlier this year.

Knowing systems have already been installed farther north is encouraging, Overall said.

"If it can work in Sachs, I think it can work down here," he said.

If the project gets approved, Overall said he would like to see other buildings in the community outfitted with systems.

"There are a number of other structures in town that could conceivably hold a system, I've been looking at the water processing plant," he said. "In the longer term, potentially the water plant or the band office or even the school."

Band Councillor Peter Marcellais said if it works out for the gym, he would be in favour of a system being installed at the band office.

"We're looking at the same situation for the band office, too," he said. "That would be really great, it's less of a power bill for us, that's for sure."

Any building could potentially hold a system, providing it has a clear line of sight to the sun, Overall said.

"With solar power the primary requirement is you need to have a nice, large open area facing south because that's where the optimal light comes from," he said. "Basically, as long as you have an area that's free of obstructions like power lines or trees, if there's nothing like that around you can pretty much put panels wherever you want."

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