An energy company wants to see if it can build a solar farm near the top of a mountain east of Merritt.

The project, being proposed by Kelowna-based Sunfield Energy, would be located within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s boundaries, off of Pennask Lake Road, about 35 kilometres east of Merritt.

Director of development services Regina Sadilkova says a project like this would take years to realize.

“At this point, all they’re doing is seeking permission from the Crown to install monitoring equipment. So it’s really just a single rod, three metres-or-so high, with a panel on top that can monitor how much sun there is through the seasons, through the years, and then they decide what would be viable there,” Sadilkova says.

“I know we’ve gotten at least probably half a dozen such referrals for investigation, particularly in the sort of hot, sunny areas where there’s no trees, around Cache Creek and Ashcroft. And there’s been some on the other side of Merritt.”

While the proposal by Sunfield would be at a significantly higher elevation than other proposed solar farms within the TNRD, Sadilkova says the viability of such a farm would depend on the amount of sunlight a location gets.

Sunfield says its investment in a solar farm would be between $3 and $100 million, which would provide enough energy to power between 200 and 10,000 homes.

A #Kelowna-based energy company is considering building a solar farm east of #Merritt near the Pennask Summit, within the @TNRD. It says it could invest between $3-100M, and a solar farm could power between 200 and 10,000 homes. pic.twitter.com/TBpWpKKyWN

— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) July 18, 2019