Solar power lights school at off-the-grid Vancouver Island alternative bastion
LASQUETI ISLAND, B.C. — The solar-power energy system that lights up False Bay School on Lasqueti Island passed a major test this fall when the tiny two-classroom building suddenly went dark.
That was when Principal Reid Wilson discovered the school’s back-up power source, a diesel generator, had broken down and the West Coast school had been running totally on solar energy during the dark, wet, dreary October days.
“It was just kicking out tons of power to the point where we virtually didn’t run our generators at all,” he said, standing in the school’s solar-panel storage shed as rain pelted the roof.
“We didn’t even know (the generator) was broken for a while,” Wilson said.