Small B.C. community to switch to 100% First Nations-owned & operated solar farm

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British Columbia, Dec 2 (Canadian-Media): The first and the largest operational solar farms 100 percent owned and operated by a First Nation in the province of British Columbia would soon be operated, said the chief of a small First Nations community in British Columbia's Interior who expects the power to go on any day, media reports said.

Chief Russell Myers Ross of the Yunesit'in in the Chilcotin region west of Williams Lake says the 1.25-megawatt hours per year project is also among the largest operational solar farms in the province.

"We were trying to find ways to build out community infrastructure and supplement any higher costs with clean energy," Ross said in an interview Sunday.​

Having 3,456 solar modules that will convert the sun's rays into electricity, the Tsilhqot'in  hopes to sell this electricity BC Hydro to generate revenue shared by each of the member nations.

With capacity to generate enough energy to power between 130 and 150 homes, it's small on a global scale but large for British Columbia and the first solar farm of its size to be fully owned and operated by a First Nation.

Ross added that even the construction phase was almost entirely completed by members of the community.

"It was almost all First Nation-built, which is a feat in itself," he said.