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Anmore, a village in B.C., will soon be producing enough energy through alternative sources to cover its needs. The project is run by a foundation created and owned by the village, in collaboration with several levels of government and the utility BC Hydro.
[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. -Ed.]
Trial project lighting up Anmore puts green energy on the grid
by Scott Simpson
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[Dan] Murray is sales manager for Day4Energy, a Burnaby-based manufacturer that is cranking out solar panels at a frantic pace. All of the company's output is fully booked through July 2009, even taking into account a planned doubling of manufacturing capacity in the near future.
The project came about through a unique partnership involving all three levels of government and independent power project developers Renaissance Power, with the enthusiastic support of Anmore Mayor Hal Weinberg and his village council.
There are 20 panels worth a total of $35,000, producing a total of 3.5 kilowatt hours of power, and through the Anmore Renewable Energy Foundation, the village expects to find itself in a break-even point with BC Hydro.
The village buys firm power off the BC Hydro grid in order to assure itself a steady baseline supply of electricity, but Hydro is buying back all the intermittent juice that the solar panels generate from daylight.
There are 43 other micro-generating solar projects with "net metering" contracts to sell electricity to Hydro, but Anmore is the first B.C. municipality on the grid.
Photo credit: Stephen Mackenzie 
