SunMine ground breaking takes place

1 of 2On hand for the SunMine opening were (left to right) Kimberley mayor, Ron McRae; Don Lindsay, President and CEO, Teck; Michel de Spot, EcoSmart Foundation; Bill Bennett, BC Minister of Energy and Mines; Neil Muth, CEO, Columbia Basin Trust and Jared Donald, president, Conergy, Canada. — Photos by Brendan Mitchell

2 of 2SunMine announcement was held at the Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre in Kimberley. — Photos by Brendan Mitchell

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SunMine means bright future for sunny resort city Kimberley, B.C.

The City of Kimberley's future is bright as it announces the start of construction on the $5.3 million SunMine solar project.

SunMine will have over 4,000 solar-cell modules, mounted on 96 solar trackers which follow the sun’s movement, maximizing solar exposure. It will be western Canada’s largest scale solar project, and the first solar project in B.C. to sell power to the BC Hydro grid.

The project is being supported by Teck, whose involvement, first announced in 2011, includes providing land and site infrastructure as well as a $2 million contribution towards the project. SunMine is located on Teck’s former Sullivan Mine site, which has been fully reclaimed

The Province’s Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund program will provide $1 million for SunMine through the EcoSmart Foundation, a Vancouver based non-profit foundation promoting economically and ecologically smart projects between public and private sectors. EcoSmart has been a driving force that helped incubate the project from concept to reality.

The SunMine project also acknowledges the support of Columbia Basin Trust, which supports efforts to deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to the residents in the Columbia Basin. Additional funding and assistance has been received from the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust.

SunMine is community owned, distinct and well suited to capitalize on Kimberley's clear and sunny conditions.

A 2011 referendum saw an overwhelming majority of Kimberley voters support the City borrowing $2 million toward construction of SunMine. As a result, the City and its partners allocated three years to securing funding, negotiating ownership, undertaking due diligence and prefeasibility studies, and completing 17 agreements with eight different organizations.

In addition to energy generation, SunMine will benefit the regional economy through increased visibility and awareness. The engineering and project experience will garner the region a competitive edge for future initiatives in the growing renewable energy market.

Following a competitive process Conergy Canada was selected as the prime contractor to provide SunMine’s engineering, procurement, and construction management.

The SunMine project will be constructed over Summer-Fall 2014, targeting January 2015 operation.

For more information visit sunmine.ca