Around the globe, Earth Day is being recognized on April 22 with the theme 'Our Power, Our Planet,' meant to raise awareness, take action and to encourage the use of renewable energy and clean energy.

In the small community of Grise Fiord, 1,160 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, harnessing the energy from the midnight sun four months of the year makes perfect sense.

In 2022, solar panels generating 10-kilowatts were installed to supplement the diesel fuel on which residents rely for survival.

鈥淚t was installed as an energy-saving project,鈥� David General, senior administrative officer (SAO), said of the panel installation on the side of the community centre.

General said the panels, used for net metering, helps offset the energy consumed in the building. Plans to expand the project later this year are underway, with solar panels being mounted on the roof of the building, General said.

The entire project was made possible through a grant from Canada鈥檚 快盈v3 REACHE program, which supports 快盈v3 and Indigenous communities in their transition to renewable, sustainable and affordable sources of energy.

鈥淭he new project will be one whereby we sell the solar energy back to QEC (Qulliq Energy Corporation),鈥� the SAO said.

Far-reaching rays

Klaus Dohring, president of Green Sun Rising Inc. in Windsor, Ont. 鈥� the company that installs the solar panels 鈥� said the Grise Fiord installation is one of 13 solar energy projects underway in Nunavut and one of 54 across Arctic communities.

鈥淲e are avoiding over 375,000 litres of diesel with those systems per year, and the number is growing,鈥� Dohring said.

鈥淲e have done specifically solar systems for diesel reduction in remote communities, including the High Arctic.

鈥淕rise Fiord being the 快盈v3-most community of North America, and being the smallest one within the Qulliq Energy's territory, is also, by far, the most expensive power plant to operate for Qulliq Energy,鈥� he added.

When installing the first solar panels in 2022, Dohring said QEC only allowed up to 10 kilowatts of solar energy in each community.

The upcoming project in Grice Fiord will be a 100-kilowatt system, Dohring noted.

鈥淚t's one order of magnitude larger than the one they presently have in operation, and that is under the commercial Independent Power Producer Program.鈥�

Under that program, QEC now allows for solar energy generation to be sold to it by the supplier, which they then sell back to the supplier at a higher cost than paid.

Waiting for summer

While he said the QEC did delay the expanded solar project initially, Green Sun Rising was finally able to deliver two containers to Grise Fiord last September.

鈥淪o we presently have two 20-foot-high cube containers sitting in the community awaiting the arrival of our installation team this summer.

鈥淚t will be the northernmost commercial, independent power producer solar project in all of North America, and it will provide the community with beautiful solar electricity, avoiding lots and lots of diesel.鈥�

Dohring said the initial 10-kilowatt system offsets about 3,000 litres of diesel fuel each year, while the upcoming project 鈥� 10 times larger 鈥� will displace up to 30,000 litres of diesel annually.

Compared to the repeated shipping costs of diesel, along with financing and storage, he said his team have to arrive only once to install the system.

鈥淎nd from there on, our friend the sun comes every day. So once our system is in place, the energy is being provided by the sun free of charge.鈥�

And while the dark, cold Arctic winter provides no sunlight, he said there is an incredible amount of sunlight to capitalize on during summer.

The solar photovoltaic system requires very little maintenance, Dohring said, and they can monitor the system via the internet.

鈥淚 have well over 100 systems on monitoring, and I look at that typically once a week, and I also share data," he said. "The community also has access to the monitoring itself, so David (General) can, at the convenience of his computer, look at the operations of the solar system.鈥�

Friendly technology

Dohring said he takes climate change very seriously.

鈥淐limate change is real, and what we need to do is decarbonize. I will argue that solar energy will be a key element of the solution,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e do not lose electricity in the distribution grid, and solar energy is the least intrusive, and ultimately, the most people-friendly and most environmentally-friendly technology we have.

鈥淚 am a friend of wind power, but wind power has moving parts. Moving parts attracts attention. Moving parts makes noise. Moving parts require maintenance because there will be wear and tear, and wind turbines are highly visible, and typically they have to be away from people, so you will have distribution lines and distribution losses.

鈥淲ater power is great if you have it available, but not everybody lives in the mountains, and if you make a new dam, it is a heavy impact on the environment.

鈥淪o I'm a friend of water power as well, but it generally is limited in areas where it's usable, and it will have impact to the degree that it is dam-based," Dohring said. 鈥淪o, I do believe solar energy will be, going forward, a key solution to our climate change problem,鈥�