Peter ‘Pedals’ van der Wyk: Tributes flow for Nimbin’s Rainbow Power Company founder after death from heart attack
Nimbin and the wider Northern Rivers is mourning the sudden loss of a beloved businessman who helped bring the innovative Rainbow Power Company to fruition. Here’s his colourful story.
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Nimbin and the wider Northern Rivers is mourning the loss of a much-loved community character who helped bring the village’s pioneering Rainbow Power Company to fruition.
Peter ‘Pedals’ van der Wyk sadly died of a heart attack at the age of 78 on Saturday.
He said at the time: “We were one of the first few solar companies in Australia and I used to be regarded as an extremist greenie who shouldn’t be taken seriously, but now my views have become mainstream, although they haven’t actually changed.”
“It was my desire for sustainable living that inspired me to conceive the Rainbow Power Company,” he said of founding the company with two friends back in 1985.
“I was unemployed at the time but I didn’t want a job which was environmentally destructive.”
Mr van der Wyk moved to Nimbin a couple of years after attending the Aquarius Festival in 1973.
He quickly became a fixture in the community, as evidenced by a flood of tributes in social media posts in the wake of his passing.
The Rainbow Power Company said in a Facebook post: “It is with great sadness that the Rainbow Power family shares the news of the passing of our founder, Peter “Pedals” van der Wyk.”
“Pete was a true pioneer of the renewable energy industry,” it reads.
“Author of the seminal work on homemade energy systems, Energy From Nature, his passion for renewable energy was a constant part of his life.
“From his pedal powered Juicer, which saw him feature on That’s Incredible and Ripley’s Believe it or Not in the early 80s, to the foundation of his ‘dream child’ with two mates in the late 80s. That dream child was Rainbow Power Company.”
Mr van der Wyk retired a few years ago, but continued to stay active, according to the post.
“Long before the Clean Energy Council and TAFE-approved solar courses, Peter helped produce the first off-grid solar accreditation that gave many titans of the industry their first taste of renewable energy.
“Even after retiring a few years ago, he continued to pursue his passion, coming into Rainbow at least once a week to gather components for his latest project.
“He will be missed by all of the RPC family.”
Hundreds of people have taken to social media to pay tribute to the pioneering alternative businessman.
“What an inspiration he is. Living in the Tweed Valley (Uki) in the late 80s, when we heard what Peter Pedals was up to at any particular time it was synonymous with everything associated with a cleaner kinder Earth,” one man wrote.
Another man spoke of the “wonderful legacy” left by Mr van der Wyk.
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