Rush to solar | The Press

(Edmonton, Alberta) On the day after the Easter break, spring feels like summer in Edmonton. The mercury exceeds 18 degrees Celsius, a butterfly flutters in front of the house of Bruce and Cory Moorehead. On the roof, workers finish installing photovoltaic panels.

Their team leader takes us to the basement. “Here is the circuit breaker for your solar system. You have a two-way meter, you will have an app that you can download to your phone,” Mary Jane Mahe explains to the retired couple.

“We believe in the environment and the importance of doing our part. Our son, who lives in South Africa, has solar panels, he encouraged us to install them,” explains Cory with a big smile.

Like thousands of households, businesses, municipalities and organizations across the province, Cory and Bruce have adopted solar energy to power their properties. At the end of their small residential street, several other roofs are already covered with photovoltaic panels.

The company that installed their system can attest to this. Kuby Renewable Energy installed solar panels on about 1,200 homes and about 100 commercial buildings last year. This year, it expects to equip some 3,000 homes and 250 commercial customers.

“Each panel installed on a roof represents 400 watts of energy that does not come from a carbon-emitting source,” emphasizes Kuby CEO Jake Kubiski.

Until 10 years ago, this professional electrician worked in the oil and gas sector. A trip to Costa Rica, during which he saw the use of wind, solar and geothermal energy powered by a volcano, made him want to work in renewable energies. Volcanic geothermal energy was not an option in Alberta and wind projects were too large. He therefore became interested in solar energy. After receiving training from his union, he struck out on his own in 2015 and co-founded Kuby with a high school friend who was then working as a mining engineer, Adam Yereniuk.

This is because in addition to houses, farms, warehouses and businesses of all kinds, Kuby integrates solar into large-scale buildings. This is the case of the spectacular Edmonton Convention Centre, where tropical plants thrive, and the new fire station in the Windermere district, with its roof resembling a ski slope. Not forgetting Red Deer Polytechnic College, where several buildings feature solar panels – including the student residence, where the sensors are directly integrated into the exterior walls.

Kuby now has more than 130 employees, around 30 of whom also come from the oil and gas sector. Like Paul de Groot, who left his job as a unionized electrician in a refinery, in search of a “breath of fresh air”. Joining Kuby as an installer a little less than five years ago, he is now general manager of the Edmonton office.

Albertans’ enthusiasm for solar energy can be explained by a combination of factors unique to the country.

First, the resource. The province enjoys one of the highest photovoltaic potentials in Canada (see map). Calgary and Edmonton are among the five Canadian cities with the highest potential, behind Regina and Saskatoon, and alongside Winnipeg, all less populous.

Then, the price of the systems, which melted like snow in the sun. In 2015, the cost “was about $4 per installed watt. It has halved,” summarizes Mr. Kubiski. Various provincial, federal and municipal subsidy programs have convinced many customers.

The Alberta market is also very favorable to microproduction. Individuals and organizations can install a system with a capacity equivalent to their consumption (up to 5 MW), and sell their excess production to the network, in return for credits. They also have access to a seasonal rate, where the excess electricity they send to the network in the summer is credited to them at a higher rate ($0.30/kWh) than that which they are charged upon purchase. winter ($0.12/kWh, for example).

And what also weighs very heavily in the balance are Alberta’s electricity rates, among the highest in the country.

Last spring, while residential customers in Montreal were charged just under 8 cents per kilowatt hour, those in Edmonton and Calgary had to pay between 28 and 30 cents. The rate charged to customers without a long-term contract, which fluctuates every month depending on the market, even exceeded 32 cents in August 2023.

“Prices doubled last year! », Exclaim Albertans as soon as we talk to them about electricity.

Since homes are mainly heated with natural gas, solar panels only offset part of the energy consumption. A residential system like that of the Mooreheads costing more than $20,000, “it takes a long time to pay off, it takes about 25 years,” predicts Cory.

The fact remains that in summer, the solar system will produce enough electricity to meet the needs of the household (notably air conditioning, which the couple resigned themselves to having installed last summer because the smoke from the fires forest prevented him from opening the windows) and send surplus to the network. Enough surplus, the Mooreheads hope, so that their winter consumption no longer costs them anything.

For a company specializing in the sale of solar systems, Alberta’s expensive rates are the best selling point, says Kuby CEO Jake Kubiski.

“It’s starting to become more of a mainstream product than a niche product, but we’re only just getting started!” »