April 25, 2014

Approximately 600 Kilometers northwest of Thunder Bay, the Deer Lake First Nations Community is breaking new ground with an innovative solar energy project with JAZZ Solar. Providing 150 KiloWatts of Energy via 624 panels arranged in 4 arrays, the system will allow the community to take its school off-grid and free up energy to power 5 new homes that had been boarded up for years due to a lack of energy.

Chief Royle Meekis said the project has economic and social benefits for the community. Geordi ​Kakepetum, head of NCC Development, says the Deer Lake solar array is the first of what he hopes will be a series of projects to reduce northern First Nations’ dependence on diesel. (source: CBC)

“This project is just the start of something big for the community of Deer Lake,” said Jazz Solar Solutions Founder and CEO Ketan Bhalla. “But you’re really also part of making history because what’s going to transpire here with solar, with batteries, and everything else planned with Canadian Solar and NCC, is really the model of energy for about three billion people with bad electricity or no electricity on this planet we live in. So I feel very honoured to be part of history that’s starting here in Deer Lake.”

Read the full CBC article and view the ribbon cutting celebration here

Read the Northern Sun News article about the Deer Lake project here