The City of Kimberley has released their numbers for the first quarter (2018) of SunMine Production and City CAO Scott Sommerville says things are looking up.
January 2018’s revenue was $6,284 on 47.25 MWh, February 2018’s revenue was $13,560 on 111.30 MWh, and March 2018’s revenue was $18,712 on 153.43 MWh.
At a regular Council meeting on Monday, April 24, 2018, Council briefly discussed the numbers.
Sommerville says production for the first quarter was 89.6 per cent of what was projected.
“It’s fairly positive news after a dismal fourth quarter in 2017,” he said. “January wasn’t great but February and March have been excellent. Hopefully the next three quarters are above projections, we’ll see as things roll out. It’s operating fairly well, mechanically it’s working quite well, 95 of the 96 trackers were lined up last time I was up and revenue is coming in as expected.”
He added that there are more tours of the SunMine being requested than ever before, including four elementary school tours before the end of the school year.
Councillor Albert Hoglund says that although SunMine production wasn’t great over the winter, at least the ski hill was doing well.
“The snow we’ve had in December and January, even though the SunMine wasn’t doing well, the ski hill did excellent. One has to suffer so the other can do well,” said Hoglund. “It’s the same as our golf courses, they might open late but the ski hill did well. There’s a golden lining behind every cloud.”
Mayor Don McCormick says that 89 per cent of production is “surprising” considering the cloudy winter Kimberley experienced.
“89 per cent – I’m surprised it would be that high with the winter and the clouds we’ve had, I don’t remember seeing much of the sun this winter. I think we’ve done pretty well,” said McCormick.
