A solar energy co-operative starting up on Gabriola Island is trying to get the community to buy into sustainable power.
GabEnergy‘s Founding Director Michael Mehta says the goal is to give people a chance to get involved in what he’s calling the “renewable energy revolution”.
Mehta says GabEnergy has three main goals, including exploring alternative ways of producing power.
He says they’ve held several community consultations and they’re in the process of figuring out the exact structure for the solar energy co-operative. They’ll be issuing a share purchase call for the co-op within a matter of months. Mehta says they’ll likely need to sell about 80 shares at $500 each to make the solar energy co-operative a reality. They also received a $10,000 grant from Bullfrog Power to help get it off the ground. He says there are many renewable energy co-operatives in Ontario and other parts of the world, but none currently in BC.
GabEnergy has also started a non-profit society, which is helping people across BC to set up their own renewable energy systems.
