Solar Power Setup

Has anyone attempted to set one up? At a cursory glance over RONA's recent flyer,

panel($700-800)+controller/regulator(30-140)+battery(160)+inverter(60+340)= $1000+ !!

That's way than my hydro bill for years! Furthermore i'd just have it set up outside my east bedroom window and maybe power the TV? It just doesn't seem cost effective.

Originally Posted by aboutblank

Has anyone attempted to set one up? At a cursory glance over RONA's recent flyer,

panel($700-800)+controller/regulator(30-140)+battery(160)+inverter(60+340)= $1000+ !!

That's way than my hydro bill for years! Furthermore i'd just have it set up outside my east bedroom window and maybe power the TV? It just doesn't seem cost effective.

Most cost effective way to use solar is to set up a direct solar heating system for your hot water.

Solar to generate electricity still has a 15 year payback period. And that is only if you do a major investment ($10,000 or more). New technologies on the horizon should bring that down to about 5 year payback soon though. Once it gets to that point you'll start seeing it installed on more new-builds.

What you are talking about doing is just not cost effective at the moment and doesn't really make much sense unfortunately. The subsidized cost of electricity in Canada is just too cheap to justify solar alternatives in most case unless you want to pay a ton of money just feel better knowing that your power is 100% clean.

As Brunes points out, the most useful use of solar energy in Canada at the moment is probably for solar water heating and even that takes a long time to pay itself off at the moment and you still need a system that would supplement the solar one. In our cold climate you'd have a heard time getting all your water heated using solar.

The other obvious use of alternative energy sources in Canada is for remote locations and I think that is probably what the majority of the stuff being sold these days is being used - cottage, campsites, etc. Exhibit A - my wife's family has a large piece of property for hunting in Quebec and the closest hydro pole to the main cabin is about 5km - makes no sense to consider running the hydro all the way in (you pay per pole!) - it is cheaper to setup wind/solar yourself. They already have windmill + solar panel that generates enough energy for their minimal needs and they use propane for cooking and a small euro-type water heater.


For anyone that is really interested in looking at the costs and possible ROI for alternative energy installation, the govvies have created a very good resource for this with tons of free info and calculators:

http://www.retscreen.net/ang/home.php

Right now. The benefit of solar would be being able to use certain household items in the event of a black out. To me that worth it to a degree. It will not be an economical way to power your entire home though.

Originally Posted by Dynomite2910

The other obvious use of alternative energy sources in Canada is for remote locations and I think that is probably what the majority of the stuff being sold these days is being used - cottage, campsites, etc. Exhibit A - my wife's family has a large piece of property for hunting in Quebec and the closest hydro pole to the main cabin is about 5km - makes no sense to consider running the hydro all the way in (you pay per pole!) - it is cheaper to setup wind/solar yourself. They already have windmill + solar panel that generates enough energy for their minimal needs and they use propane for cooking and a small euro-type water

Have they thought about eventually hooking up to the grid in order to sell the excess when they are not there? Maybe that way would pay for the pole installation and eventually start making profit for them.

Originally Posted by joshmxpx

Have they thought about eventually hooking up to the grid in order to sell the excess when they are not there? Maybe that way would pay for the pole installation and eventually start making profit for them.

They have a very small wind turbine and one small solar panel - not worth the effort at all. They lived without power years and years - they only put this stuff in a year or so ago and only use it to run a few flourescent bulbs at night and watch the occasionally hockey game on small tv on a Saturday night.

I have thought about the possibility of installing a net meter and a bunch of solar panels at my own cottage. It sits empty most of time so almost all of the electricity produced could feed back into the grid and Quebec Hydro where my cottage is already allows for net metering:
http://www.hydroquebec.com/autoproduction/en/index.html

I did the math though and again it just didn't make sense. Our total electricity costs for the year at our cottage was only $1200 for the last 12 months so that is the maximum return on investment we could get per year. So for example if you could get the system installed for $12000 (I think I figured it would be more than that) it would take over 10+ years to pay it back.

If anyone is in a remote location and looking at these types of systems. Here is the link to a large canadian supplier that has lots of info on their website:
http://www.spsenergy.com/