The provincial government announced $8 million in Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) funds this week, including one million dollars for Kimberley's Sun Mine project.

Bulletin readers will recall that test solar panels were installed at the old Concentrator site on Teck property last fall.

Since that time, the City, Teck and partner, the non-profit Ecosmart Foundation, have been gathering data on Kimberley's potential as a generator of solar energy. Turns out, the potential is there.

"The grant will be used as part of the capital required to build the Sun Mine," said Mayor Jim Ogilvie. "The test proved successful. We got more hours of sunlight than were anticipated."

Not only is solar energy clean and sustainable, but because it is installed on the former Teck Concentrator property, the Sun Mine is essentially turning a brownfield site green.

Ogilvie says the plans now are for a one-megawatt plant, which will produce enough power to meet one fifth of Kimberley's needs. The power will be sold into the provincial grid.

"That's one of the advantages of the Concentrator site," Ogilvie said. "There is a substation there. It connects directly to BC Hydro."

Ogilvie said the grant was unexpected but the City is prepared to get to work.

There is enough space at the site to eventually turn it into a five -megawatt plant.

"Over time, it could be an income generator," he said. "But we still have a long way to go.

"We need another $2.5 million to make it happen, but there's no doubt in my mind that in about a year or so I'll able to find that."

One of the issues for the generation of solar power was the provinces unwillingness to allow feed-in tariffs, which would essentially pay a little more for clean energy. Ogilvie says he has seen some signs that may be changing, a very positive step for Kimberley's Sun Mine.

According to the Ministry of Energy and mines, the 12 new ICE projects funded will bring $79 million in investment and 475 jobs to about 10 B.C. communities. The projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 87,782 tonnes per year - the equivalent of taking 17,212 passenger vehicles off of the road. Since 2008, the Province has approved more than $72 million for 56 clean energy projects across B.C., representing a value over $390 million in total project costs through the ICE Fund.

So far, 12 ICE Fund projects are complete and have created 271 construction jobs and 103 ongoing jobs. Through the ICE Fund, the Province supports a broad range of technological applications, including: ocean tidal and wave, solar, geoexchange, micro-hydro, wind, bioenergy, waste utilization, and energy conservation and management.

Kimberley's Sun Mine will be the first B.C. installation of a grid-connected solar power plant on a brownfield mine site. It will also show how solar tracking technology can be adapted for northern climates.