Future sunny for solar power in BC

British Columbia newspapering legend Ma Murray was never at a loss for opinions, but it’s a safe bet she never imagined anything like this. Her grandson, Dan Murray, is standing on a new blacktop parking lot just a stone's throw from the salty-tongued Murray’s former pioneer residence in Anmore.

The refurbished heritage home now serves as the village’s civic office, and the company for which Dan Murray is sales manager has just completed an installation of solar electricity panels, which are generating enough electricity—even on an overcast day—to cover the village’s bill to keep the lights burning in his late grandmother's home.

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.

Murray says the European-developed technology behind the panels—coupled with the engineering savvy of Day4 chair and CEO John MacDonald, co- founder and former chairman-CEO of MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates—is giving the company a distinct edge in the booming international market for solar power products.

“Homes, businesses, farms, you name it, are buying it, and in particular asking for Day4 panels because of its ability to produce power in low light conditions,” Murray said.

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.