Thursday 13 February 2020

One year of solar - an update

It's been a year since the switch was flipped on our roof solar array. We were among the last to be able to access the solar panel rebate program funded by the Alberta Carbon Levy. We were permitted for a 4.8 kW microgeneration system.


Quick review of the carbon levy -  it wasn't intended to be revenue-neutral. After rebates to lower-income families (<$47K), funds were used to provide cash incentives for environmentally friendly investment at the business and personal levels. One town used it to go net-zero for town operations by installing solar panels. We ended up with a 30% rebate on the purchase cost. Microgeneration permits are still available in Alberta although the rebate is not. It's based on the last year of energy use as the goal is a net-zero system. We used ~5.2 kW in the previous 12 months. Because of the sunshine hours, a factor of 1.2 was used to max us out at a 4.8 kW array. You can see the array produced 5.2 kW which is kind of neat.


Most (Alberta) sites don't recommend clearing panels in the winter. The lost power is not worth the risk of injury.  It's true with the short days and angle of the sun, there isn't a lot of production happening but we got a scaffold/handrail system and cleaning off the panels does allow us to offset most day time power use. 

People are always asking about payback. It's a question that doesn't make sense to me because we didn't take out a loan or anything. I can say we pay no electric bill for one quarter of the year and our winter bills were way under $150/month with someone home all day. The electrical system is guaranteed for 15 years and the panels for 25. In 25 years, maybe it will be shingles that collect solar and kinetic rain energy!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your experience! I'll be noting how our new system fares over the year.

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  2. Make sure drop a link to me when you do.

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