Even in winter, there are cabin solar electricity systems being installed. Randal Perras, with Greenplanet Energy Analytics, was in Fort Chipewyan the week of January 11th. He and Jonathan Bruno and Freddie Marcel ventured out early one morning for a 3.5 hour drive south on the winter road from Fort Chipewyan. They met up with Russell Voyageur, an ACFN cabin owner. They loaded all the solar PV equipment and gear onto a sleigh hooked up to a snowmobile. Then the four of them headed into the bush for about an hour to get to Russell’s cabin. Randal describes his experience of sledding through the remote wilderness as “a great way to get to a job site”.
It took Randal and the crew about 4 hours to assemble and hook up the solar PV system to Russell’s cabin. When Russell was asked what this means for him, he told Randal that he was excited not to haul as much fuel and to not listen to the noise of the generator.
Randal will be installing 2 more systems on cabins on the land around Fort Chipewyan, for a total of 13 installations so far.
