Published 4:21 pm Monday, February 2, 2026
By Brennan Phillips
The City of Penticton is looking at the possibility of following its neighbour in establishing its own power supply, at least for critical infrastructure.
The proposal will be presented to council at the Feb. 3 council meeting, and staff are looking for their approval to pursue an electrical “microgrid.”
The microgrid would consist of a battery storage system, solar panels for power generation and microclosers to control the flow of electricity between the microgrid and the main grid.
Once completed, the system would provide an estimated 691 kW of electricity, with an estimated annual production of 700 MWh and a 10 MWh battery capacity.
Penticton’s peak demand is approximately 80 MW in extreme weather, with annual usage of over 346,000 MWh in 2024.
The city has pointed to similar projects in other communities, including Summerland’s own solar project, which went online in 2023 and provides 412 kW, with a 3.56 MWh battery storage.
Penticton has been working with the District of Summerland on the proposal, with staff sharing their learnings and ways to improve the project. The battery system Penticton is looking at is based on recommendations from Summerland staff.
Summerland presented on their project as part of a public event on solar energy in the Okanagan at the Green Drinks: Bright Ideas in Solar last year.
The project would be dependent on securing external funding of $5.6 million, with the remaining $3.7 million of the project’s estimated budget coming out of the city’s electrical reserve.
The staff report notes that it estimates the savings from the power generation would offset the costs within 11 years of installation.
In addition to the savings on electricity, the main benefit would be providing power to the Penticton Regional Hospital in the case of an emergency outage of FortisBC’s supply to the city.
It would also provide power to the wastewater treatment plant, to keep that facility also operational during an outage.
The solar panels would be installed on the recently constructed electric utility vehicle bay building, the Yards office, a future fleet building, and the Dawson Ave. fire hall.
Council will hear the report and will be asked to support the proposal at the upcoming Feb. 3 meeting, which begins at 1 p.m.

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