Of course it was raining on the day the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre, Sunshine Coast Community Solar Association (SCCSA), friends and family gathered to celebrate the unveiling of the James Pawley Legacy solar panel array on the activity centre’s roof.
Christine Pawley didn’t miss a beat in her speech thanking everyone’s contribution to the project honouring her late husband. Her family always lamented clear days in Sechelt while staying at their summer cabin in Egmont where it so often rained. “Over time, sunny and Sechelt welded together in our minds,” she said. “It’s ironic I’m telling you this story on such a miserable day.”
Despite the rain, the mission of the array – to provide years of energy and education about the value of renewables to Sunshine Coast residents – buoyed the small gathering.
James Pawley, an electrical engineer and biophysicist researcher, began spending more of his teaching time in the 1990s on the climate crisis, “convinced it posed an existential threat of an overwhelming nature.” He and his wife became active with the solar association and ElderCollege after they retired to Sechelt in 2012. They had always wanted to establish a solar project in the community, said Mrs. Pawley. “Here we are with a practical result of everyone’s work up and running so successfully.”
The 28-panel, 9.24-kilowatt array was installed on the activity centre’s roof in March and since coming online in mid-April has generated about 17 per cent of the centre’s power, equivalent to about $740 as of Aug. 21.
The array functions at 98 per cent efficiency and information is relayed in real-time via a monitoring system.
SCCSA chair Gord Bishop thanked the seniors centre for supporting the project. “This is very important to our association and to have a living legacy to carry on in Jim Pawley’s name is very fantastic,” he said.
The installation marks the beginning of a longer-term goal to achieve self-sufficiency, said seniors activity centre vice president Ken White. The centre is determined to add additional panels, an EV charging station and a battery system. “Our hope is through continued promotion it will serve as a catalyst to grow the solar community on the Sunshine Coast,” said White.
Due to public health restrictions, the Aug. 21 event was kept small and was live streamed from the activity centre. The limited on-site guests included members of the centre and solar association, Sechelt Mayor Darnelda Siegers and Sunshine Coast Regional District representative Donna McMahon, in addition to members of the Pawley family.
Association secretary Gayle Neilson thanked far and wide communities for their donations, including from Wisconsin where Mr. Pawley once taught. The Pawley family also made a “very significant” contribution to the project and “a generous grant” from the Sunshine Coast Credit Union allowed them to expand the array. Olson Electric/APS installed the solar “on time and at their cost – thank you very much,” said Neilson.
She said donations “started pouring in” as soon as the idea for a legacy was developed “from the many people whose lives were touched by Jim.”
A plaque has been installed in the activity centre and Mrs. Pawley unveiled it at last Friday’s celebration. The wood on which his name and the project details are inscribed came from a walnut tree Mr. Pawley cut down in his backyard in Sechelt.
“Jim hated cutting down trees but this one was unavoidable and he’d be happy to know something came of this,” said Mrs. Pawley.
Part of the plaque reads: “In memory of James B. Pawley, 1944 to 2019, scientist, climate activist, grandparent and Sechelt resident, to support the sustainable future that he worked for, contributed by his family and friends near and far.”
