Community Articles
General News · 19th May 2024
Mike and Kate
This spring, Kate and I engaged Ian from King Solar Contracting, and Izaak from Tidler Electric to install a 4000 watt solar array on our house. There are several ways an installation can use or store the power generated from a solar array. The first is that you can have the solar panels charging a battery bank, which would provide power to certain loads during a power outage. However, if it is a sunny day, your batteries are charged and the BC Hydro power is on (as in almost every summer day) the solar power has nowhere to go and it is just shed or wasted. The second option is to have the solar array feed into the electrical grid (grid-tie) so that you use the BC Hydro grid as your "battery". The problem with this is that when the BC Hydro power goes off, you don't have a back up source of energy and so, your house is powerless too. Kate and I decided to do a mix of both sorts of systems.
The way our system works is the solar panels produce DC power from the sun, which is immediately changed to 240 V AC via micro-inverters attached to each solar panel. This AC power then feeds directly into our main house panel and the house uses the power it needs from the sun and any excess is sold back to BC Hydro. In essence, power flows through our electrical meter backwards and we get a credit for it. Then at night or on cloudy days when we are not producing enough solar power to meet our needs, Hydro comes in to the main panel to cover the deficit.
Coming off of the main electrical panel, we have a backup panel which has our essential loads connected to it. Our essential loads are lighting, outlets for charging phones, computers and internet, well pump, freezers and fridges. If there is a BC Hydro power failure, an automatic transfer switch will redirect the solar power to the back up panel and any excess energy will then flow to charge our batteries. If there is not enough solar power being generated to handle our back up loads, then power will come from the batteries through an inverter to make up the deficit.
In other words, the solar energy our panels produce either directly powers our house, or flows back to help supply the BC Hydro grid or it charges our batteries. When BC Hydro power goes out, the solar panels and batteries power up our essential loads. No solar power is ever wasted and we always have power to meet our basic needs.
When Kate and I were considering the complexity and cost in doing this kind of combined solar system of both grid-tie and battery back up, the thing that made up our minds was the idea of energy security. Not only did we want to keep essential systems going during the typical 3 to 5 day winter storm power outages, but the idea is that when the wildfire approaches and burns the power-lines, we can open a valve and have water running to the sprinklers on our roof to protect the house but with our solar power supplying the well pump. That scenario made it all seem worthwhile.
But there are other things too, that I like about it. Electrical demand is increasing globally, on Cortes we’re using more electricity as people switch to heat pumps, charge electric cars, bikes and perhaps even the ferry. The power cable to the island from the mainland is only so big and so if we start producing grid-tie power locally, it relieves some of that pressure. Solar power production is at a maximum during the summer, this could mean that BC Hydro could keep more water back in the reservoirs to make it through the increasingly dry autumn/ early winter months. And I really like the idea of reverting the wood in this old house back to its original purpose, of capturing and converting energy from the sun.
We didn’t do it as a money making project. Hardware costs alone were $25,000 and then there was installation labour, taxes and permit fees. We were lucky to have a south facing roof so did not have to build any fancy rack system and we still have enough roof space to double our system from 4000W to 8000W. Since we have already paid for the batteries, inverter and grid-tie equipment which was a large percentage of the cost, purchasing more solar panels and micro-inverters will be relatively cheap. In fact, between January when Ian first gave us a cost estimate and March when we actually ordered the hardware, solar panels dropped in price by 26% and batteries by 10%. Renewable power keeps getting cheaper to install!
One of the first questions I get when talking about the system is “What’s the payback time?” I don’t have nearly enough data on the system’s performance to answer that yet. And the calculations of when the system allows us to go from BC Hydro Step 2 to Step1 billing rates would be complex. But my very rough calculations puts payback for the hardware at about 25 years. The panels themselves are warrantied to produce at least 85% of their rated value for 30 years. We went with lead acid batteries instead of Lithium-ion because they are cheaper and completely recyclable. In 10 years time, when we need to think about replacing them, battery technologies will have advanced and prices will have dropped enough to consider another type. So for doing a cost analysis, while I need to look at our system’s output data over time, I think we have a pretty robust system that will not need maintenance or repair costs for at least a decade and we have helped insulate ourselves from future BC Hydro rate increases. And I have to ask myself what the value is of knowing fridges and freezers will keep running if we happen to be away for a while during a power outage and what access to well water is worth for house fire protection or garden watering should anything happen to the power grid that supplies the island. For Kate and I, that energy security is worth a lot.
Unfortunately, we did not qualify for the Greener Homes Grant and Loan for this installation and that program has run out of money now anyways but in the recent budget, the Federal Government has announced a new program and if Premier Eby is serious about making a more robust electrical grid for BC, he’d better offer up incentives too. Site C has proved that hydro mega-projects are not the way to go, especially if the power they produce goes to support LNG production!
There is a website Kate and I use to see how much power our panels are producing and then we compare that to our BC Hydro account’s daily usage site. It was exciting on that first sunny day when we actually were providing surplus power to the grid! And it is fun to have that raised power awareness, we can see when and how much power it took to cook dinner, to have that shower or to do laundry. Yes, we will double the number of solar panels on the roof and are seriously considering a solar hot water system too (keeping a 40 gallon tank hot uses about 18% of the typical home’s total electrical power). If that drops us from Step 2 to Step 1 hydro pricing for most of the year, then that’s a 40% price reduction right there. And if we sell back power to Hydro and feed into the Cortes grid, we’ll save even more money and you’ll have some of our solar energy flowing into your own homes too. Local energy- local resilience!
Our house on Chamadaska Way is one of the easiest solar installations to see from the road. If you have questions or want to see more, please contact us at mistysailgmail.com.
Thanks to King Solar Contracting and Tidler Electric, our local Cortes contractors who worked with us to develop a plan, offered excellent guidance and did the job quickly and professionally. We can now call on Ian anytime we have a question and we did’t have to pay travel and accommodations to have these local guys do the job!
The way our system works is the solar panels produce DC power from the sun, which is immediately changed to 240 V AC via micro-inverters attached to each solar panel. This AC power then feeds directly into our main house panel and the house uses the power it needs from the sun and any excess is sold back to BC Hydro. In essence, power flows through our electrical meter backwards and we get a credit for it. Then at night or on cloudy days when we are not producing enough solar power to meet our needs, Hydro comes in to the main panel to cover the deficit.
Coming off of the main electrical panel, we have a backup panel which has our essential loads connected to it. Our essential loads are lighting, outlets for charging phones, computers and internet, well pump, freezers and fridges. If there is a BC Hydro power failure, an automatic transfer switch will redirect the solar power to the back up panel and any excess energy will then flow to charge our batteries. If there is not enough solar power being generated to handle our back up loads, then power will come from the batteries through an inverter to make up the deficit.
In other words, the solar energy our panels produce either directly powers our house, or flows back to help supply the BC Hydro grid or it charges our batteries. When BC Hydro power goes out, the solar panels and batteries power up our essential loads. No solar power is ever wasted and we always have power to meet our basic needs.
When Kate and I were considering the complexity and cost in doing this kind of combined solar system of both grid-tie and battery back up, the thing that made up our minds was the idea of energy security. Not only did we want to keep essential systems going during the typical 3 to 5 day winter storm power outages, but the idea is that when the wildfire approaches and burns the power-lines, we can open a valve and have water running to the sprinklers on our roof to protect the house but with our solar power supplying the well pump. That scenario made it all seem worthwhile.
But there are other things too, that I like about it. Electrical demand is increasing globally, on Cortes we’re using more electricity as people switch to heat pumps, charge electric cars, bikes and perhaps even the ferry. The power cable to the island from the mainland is only so big and so if we start producing grid-tie power locally, it relieves some of that pressure. Solar power production is at a maximum during the summer, this could mean that BC Hydro could keep more water back in the reservoirs to make it through the increasingly dry autumn/ early winter months. And I really like the idea of reverting the wood in this old house back to its original purpose, of capturing and converting energy from the sun.
We didn’t do it as a money making project. Hardware costs alone were $25,000 and then there was installation labour, taxes and permit fees. We were lucky to have a south facing roof so did not have to build any fancy rack system and we still have enough roof space to double our system from 4000W to 8000W. Since we have already paid for the batteries, inverter and grid-tie equipment which was a large percentage of the cost, purchasing more solar panels and micro-inverters will be relatively cheap. In fact, between January when Ian first gave us a cost estimate and March when we actually ordered the hardware, solar panels dropped in price by 26% and batteries by 10%. Renewable power keeps getting cheaper to install!
One of the first questions I get when talking about the system is “What’s the payback time?” I don’t have nearly enough data on the system’s performance to answer that yet. And the calculations of when the system allows us to go from BC Hydro Step 2 to Step1 billing rates would be complex. But my very rough calculations puts payback for the hardware at about 25 years. The panels themselves are warrantied to produce at least 85% of their rated value for 30 years. We went with lead acid batteries instead of Lithium-ion because they are cheaper and completely recyclable. In 10 years time, when we need to think about replacing them, battery technologies will have advanced and prices will have dropped enough to consider another type. So for doing a cost analysis, while I need to look at our system’s output data over time, I think we have a pretty robust system that will not need maintenance or repair costs for at least a decade and we have helped insulate ourselves from future BC Hydro rate increases. And I have to ask myself what the value is of knowing fridges and freezers will keep running if we happen to be away for a while during a power outage and what access to well water is worth for house fire protection or garden watering should anything happen to the power grid that supplies the island. For Kate and I, that energy security is worth a lot.
Unfortunately, we did not qualify for the Greener Homes Grant and Loan for this installation and that program has run out of money now anyways but in the recent budget, the Federal Government has announced a new program and if Premier Eby is serious about making a more robust electrical grid for BC, he’d better offer up incentives too. Site C has proved that hydro mega-projects are not the way to go, especially if the power they produce goes to support LNG production!
There is a website Kate and I use to see how much power our panels are producing and then we compare that to our BC Hydro account’s daily usage site. It was exciting on that first sunny day when we actually were providing surplus power to the grid! And it is fun to have that raised power awareness, we can see when and how much power it took to cook dinner, to have that shower or to do laundry. Yes, we will double the number of solar panels on the roof and are seriously considering a solar hot water system too (keeping a 40 gallon tank hot uses about 18% of the typical home’s total electrical power). If that drops us from Step 2 to Step 1 hydro pricing for most of the year, then that’s a 40% price reduction right there. And if we sell back power to Hydro and feed into the Cortes grid, we’ll save even more money and you’ll have some of our solar energy flowing into your own homes too. Local energy- local resilience!
Our house on Chamadaska Way is one of the easiest solar installations to see from the road. If you have questions or want to see more, please contact us at mistysailgmail.com.
Thanks to King Solar Contracting and Tidler Electric, our local Cortes contractors who worked with us to develop a plan, offered excellent guidance and did the job quickly and professionally. We can now call on Ian anytime we have a question and we did’t have to pay travel and accommodations to have these local guys do the job!
