Solar information

Installing solar panels is one of the most beneficial means of generating electricity, both financially and environmentally whether its for a home or business.

Solar panels provide a means of producing your own clean energy from a renewable source rather than relying on carbon intensive fuels. Photovoltaic (PV) modules not only eliminate tons of carbon every year, they earn you money by reducing your monthly power bill. What you don’t use is sold back to the grid (for grid-tied applications) and credited to you accordingly.

Over a 25+ lifespan, the cost of generating electricity from home solar panels is significantly less than continually leasing your electricity from a retailer. The best part is, solar energy will never run out!

Learn more about why you should switch to solar...

Grid-tied solar power systems are the most common way of distributing your solar energy.  When a system is “grid-tied” it simply means that we connect your solar power system to your local distribution system (in Alberta this is typically supplied by EPCOR, Fortis, or ATCO; in Saskatchewan, this is supplied by SaskPower; in BC this is BC Hydro) through your main electrical panel.  When a system is grid-tied, excess energy can be sold back to your retailer, providing clean solar energy for others consumers.  This option is more cost effective as you will directly earn money from your system and recoup the cost of solar panels.  

Off-grid solar power systems are becoming a more common lifestyle choice for those who are not easily accessible by the electrical grid and who don’t wish to have power supplied by carbon-intensive fuels or for those who are not easily accessible by the electrical grid.  The solar power installation/generation process is similar although the key difference is energy is stored in a battery bank rather than sold back to the grid.  Off-grid solar power systems are more applicable if you want to provide your own electricity or if you live in a remote area where electrical accessibility is an issue. Off-grid solar energy systems are more expensive because there are more components (off-grid inverter, charge controller, batteries, additional wiring etc.) and installation labour involved. Off grid solar power installations may be the best choice if installing a grid connection will be very costly ($20,000+).

Contact us today to learn more about off-grid solar power systems or to get a free quote.

Your solar power system will typically save you anywhere from 20% to 100% of your monthly electrical energy.   Everyone’s system and energy habits are unique and as such so are everyone’s savings.  Your electrical provider (i.e. EPCOR for Edmonton, AB), will monitor your solar energy generation vs usage and credit you accordingly on your bill.  

The average home in Alberta and Saskatchewan uses approximately 7,000kWh/yr which is roughly what 16 solar panels will produce. The average home will become electrically Net-Zero from just 16 solar panels!

You will be able to monitor your solar power statistics through an online monitoring service available on any internet-enabled device.  Through this online service, you can see how much solar energy you’re generating and how much carbon your solar panels are offsetting.

Solar panels offset tons of carbon every year, even smaller residential systems. A 5kW or 13 module system can offset upwards of 4,000kg of carbon every year.

The U.S Department of Energy estimates that solar panels will offset ~0.63t of C02 for every MWh (1,000kWH) of solar energy. If you generate 6,900kWh/yr for 30 years, your solar panels will have offset over 130t of C02! This number may be even higher if you live in an area which burns coal for it's electricity, like Alberta. Carbon offsets are an ever growing concern given our current state of emissions.

Your free proposal will outline how many tons of carbon dioxide are offset from your exact solar power system.

It is a common misconception that the environmental cost of solar panels is negative.

Although solar panels use metals that are extracted from the earth (for the modules, inverters and associated wiring), they still provide a positive net impact on the earth relative to generating electricity from carbon intensive means such as coal or natural gas. The carbon payback period of a solar system is less than 3 years compared to fossil fuel alternatives.

The environmental and financial impacts of solar panels are undoubtedly positive!

Many solar energy installations can be completed in as little as one day!

‍We will respond to you the same day you contact us, and you can be generating clean renewable energy in as little as 14 days! Home solar installations typically take 1 to 3 days depending on the size of the array, with the majority of projects being completed in just a day or two. The longest part of the solar contracting experience is the permitting stage which is variable depending on the jurisdiction and may take a few weeks.

Larger commercial solar panel installations may take weeks to complete since the arrays are significantly larger than a standard residential project.

We know life can be hectic sometimes so we will always work with you when it comes to scheduling a time for you solar power installation. In select events, a brief power outage may be required although not always. If this is the case we will always work with you to decide the most opportune time.

An ideal roof for solar panels will be facing due south with a slope close to the latitude of the region. For Edmonton, Alberta, solar panels mounted at 45 degrees to 53 degrees are ideal, however slopes from 18-60 degrees still operate at a very high efficiency. If the slope of the roof is fairly shallow, it is not as inefficient as you might think. The study cited above by NAIT showed that a system’s efficiency will only drop by less than 10% annually.

East/West faces are effective for commercial or home solar panel installations but will experience a minor reduction in efficiency.  In select cases, facing east and west may actually be an advantage if the property requires the maximum amount of energy from a given building footprint such as with barns or mechanical shops.

Most homes are suitable for solar energy and we will always be sure to let you know if it is an investment worth making. We don't simply sell solar panels, we work with homeowners to assess viable investments in renewable energy.

Inverters have a 10 to 12 year warranty depending on what manufacturer is best for your property although you can often extend this to 20 or 25 years.

Solar power system components have different warranties. Solar panels themselves have a 25 year performance guarantee and typically have a 12+ year material warranty. This means that in 25 years, solar panel manufacturers guarantee their panel will be producing at approximately 85% of what they do today (they degrade slowly over time).

Most likely, yes but it will be substantially less than it was. It is possible to eliminate your bill completely during some (spring/summer/fall) months but requires a fairly large solar power system.

You still need energy at night and when the sun isn't shining, during this time you will be importing from the grid. Ideally, your solar power system will be sized so you generate enough excess solar electricity to sell back to your provider to cover your imported electricity costs.

When the power goes out, solar power systems (more specifically, the inverter(s)) shut off. This is a safety feature built into the system so your property does not backfeed the grid when workers are performing maintenance.

You can eliminate this by installing a battery energy storage system.

If it is cloudy solar panels still operate although they typically won't produce as much as if it were a sunny day. The sun can penetrate moderate cloud coverage and can even go through small amounts of snow.