Fredericton seeks to open window on home solar potential

Use of solar power continues to grow in New Brunswick on a modest scale, according to an installer of home systems, and Fredericton city council is looking at a way to boost it.

Demand has roughly doubled every year, said Mark McCann, since he started his business, MJM Solar Solutions, 10 years ago.

But there are still only about 300 customers with net metering systems connected to NB Power's grid, six homes and two businesses with Saint John Energy, and four with Edmundston Energy, according to the utility companies.

Fredericton council's environmental stewardship committee has applied for a grant from the province's Environmental Trust Fund to hire a consultant help homeowners better understand their home's solar power potential. 

The idea is to create an interactive solar map, such as was recently launched by the City of Calgary.

A person can go to the city's website, punch in their address, and a calculator will use average power bills, satellite images of roofs and a financial algorithm to figure out how many panels could be installed and the resultant financial and environmental impacts.

The whole thing takes less than a minute, said Lewis Percy, a geologist with Calgary's Climate Change Mitigation office. 

"It's kind of fun," Percy said.

"Everybody likes looking at their own home on a map for some reason."

Solar a viable option

The tool launched in February, and there were more than 12-thousand page views in the early days, he said.

He thinks it's reaching "a good number of people."

"A lot of people don't realize how viable solar is right now," Percy said.

Over time, Calgary plans to track how many people apply for financing and go ahead with installation and the difference that makes to the city's carbon footprint. 

The only current financing program is the federal Greener Homes Grant, said Percy.

It offers a $5,000 rebate for energy efficiency retrofits.

Starting next fall, Calgarians will also have access to an Alberta Municipalities' clean energy improvement program, he said. It's available now in a few communities and allows borrowing for energy efficiency retrofits through property tax bills.

Calgary is one of the sunniest cities in Canada, said Percy, but Fredericton is not far behind.

Solar is a "fantastic resource" in the Fredericton area, he said, that could "certainly be used."

The upfront costs, however, are more prohibitive in New Brunswick.

In Calgary, it takes about 15 panels to meet a home's energy needs, said Percy, and installation costs $10,000 to $15,000.

In New Brunswick, it takes about 30 panels, said McCann, and costs about $24,000 plus tax.

The reason the average New Brunswick home needs more electricity, he explained, is because many use electric heating systems, whereas Calgary homes tend to use natural gas.

But if you look at the unit cost of electricity, said McCann, solar is about half the going residential rates. Over a system's 35-year lifespan, he said, it's about $.06 to $.08 per kw/h, compared to utility rates of $.11 to $.18.

System set up is "fairly simple," said McCann.

Low prices

It takes a week or two to get approval from N.B. Power for a net metering application, he said. Then the system is installed, inspected by Public Safety, and the meter is replaced with one that can keep track of both how much power is used from the grid, as well as how much is fed to it.

NB Power also offers a financial incentive for adding solar panels through its energy savings program, with a $200 per kilowatt return of the system installed.

Last summer, solar power system prices were about the lowest they've ever been, said McCann.

They had fallen significantly over a period of a few years, he said, then rose a bit during the pandemic, but solar panels are still less expensive now than they were six years ago.

Some systems are as small as a single panel, battery and inverter. 

A few homes have one or two panels, not connected to a power meter. At some campgrounds you might find 40 trailers that have them, and there are many on camps in the woods.

There are probably more off-grid systems than on, said McCann.

He expects he'll see demand continue to rise, alongside power rates.