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Hydro habit: Squamish Valley nuns spark electric project

Queen of Peace Monastery working on going off-grid

The nuns of the Queen of Peace Monastery usually like to spend time by the Pilchuck Creek that flows through their property, but on Oct. 11, many of them are next to where the water flows higher up mountain — installing their hydro-electric project by hand.

"It's been really fun to do it. The young sisters never thought that in entering a monastery that they would be learning to mix cement and use pulleys," Sister Claire Rolf told The Chief as work wraps up on the project for the season.

The idea is to restore an original project on the land, using the natural elements. When the land was first sold to become home to the monastery, the previous owners already had a turbine and had been living off-grid before the power lines were put in the area. As soon as building began, in 2011, the nuns wanted to become self-sustaining. But the licence had lapsed, and the application for a new one was "a painful process," Rolf said. So over the years, the nuns had environmental studies done, collecting hydrological data to see if a hydro-electric project would be feasible. To bring the previous turbine up to date would require many repairs and the use of heavy machinery. 

"We came to the conclusion that we should do what is a smaller, low-impact project that has a higher intake, so you take out less water," Rolf said.

Instead of using heavy machines, the nuns have devised a pulley system to place pipes and equipment by hand. They didn't want machines to remove mature trees or drastically change the natural landscape of the creek bed. The work is slower, with the sisters heading up the mountain to work one or two days a week.

"It just made sense for us as a community with our concern also for using clean energy," Rolf said. "We already don't use plastic bags and we reuse. Our whole system of life in a way is we all share the cars... We eat as much as possible off the land or buy locally. We built the monastery locally, and we're sharing our land with organic farmers of the area."

Rolf said they would also like to add an electric vehicle charging station for visitors and residents of the valley to use.

Unlike Squamish or Whistler, the Upper Squamish Valley is on a closed grid. As they'll feed the grid, the nuns will get out what they put in. They conducted a study on their power use so BC Hydro could come up with an equitable amount for net metering. In the months when they use more than their output, they'll pay the difference to BC Hydro. When the nuns use less power than their project produces, BC Hydro will pay the nuns in return.

Another neighbour has been helping with the project in exchange for being attached to their system. A lot of volunteer power has gone into the project, with the help of a hydro consultant for more technical work.

Ultimately, Rolf said they expect the project to cost $400,000, but over time it will cut down on costs of living. If needed, it could eventually contribute more power to the growing community in the Upper Squamish Valley.

Rolf said they plan to have the project operational next summer.

"It's all from our little part in caring for creation."

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