Saskatoon wants more homeowners and businesses to generate solar power
City says solar panels can help the environment and your wallet in the long run
The City of Saskatoon wants more homeowners and businesses to install solar panels to help the municipality reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
In 2022, Saskatoon Light & Power had 279 customers participating in programs that fed 2.3 megawatts of solar capacity into the city's power grid. The participating customers returned enough excess renewable electricity to power about 140 homes.
Amber Weckworth, the City of Saskatoon's education and environment performance manager, said shifting to solar power is a great way to reduce your ecological footprint, because there will be less reliance on coal or gas-fired electricity.
"Some power back to the grid is helpful, but we're really looking for people to meet their own demands and reduce their own use," Weckworth told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning Leisha Grebinski.
"If you put solar panels on your house you may offset all of it, you may offset 20 per cent of it. Either way that's really helping out."
Growing interest in shifting to solar power: solar panel installer
Brent Veitch is the co-owner of Rock Paper Sun, and has installed solar panels on homes in and around Saskatoon for 15 years.
He said demand for solar panels is on the rise for reasons other than just lowering greenhouse-gas emissions.
"The price of solar panels has been dropping while the price of electricity has been going up, " Veitch said on CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.
"So over time, whatever people have as an individual sort of trigger point, or where it makes sense for them, has been changing."
Saskatoon Light & Power has a net metering program that allows customers to generate up to 100 kilowatts of renewable electricity for their own use and send excess electricity to the grid for future use.
People using solar panels can generate more power in the summer than winter.
"The biggest difference for the one to one net metering in our climate is it lets you credit electricity in the summer and then use it for free in the winter," Veitch says.
"If you're in the SaskPower area you can still credit your energy in the summer, but during the winter you have to pay approximately 50 per cent of the cost of electricity."
Upfront costs can be a barrier
Veitch said most of the residential installations he does cost $10,000 to $30,000.
Weckworth said those upfront costs can make people hesitant, but that there are grants and incentives available to help with the transition.
She is participating in Canada Greener Homes Loan, which helps Canadians make their homes more energy-efficient through interest-free loans ranging from $5,000 to $40,000.
"For my own calculations, I have a 15-year payback. After that it will all be money that's in my pocket. I'm estimated to make $13,000 over the life of the panels," Weckworth said.
Saskatoon's Home Energy Loan Program is currently full after 256 people were approved. That program provides Saskatoon homeowners loans of $1,000 to $60,000 for energy efficient retrofits.
Weckworth said the program was possible through a federal grant and would likely need funding from the city to continue.
"We're going to look for funding over the next few months. It'll go to the city council budget this year to see if more funding can be allocated," Weckworth said.
Saskatoon's MyHEAT SOLAR map details suggested installation size for a home, the upfront costs of retrofits after incentives, the supports homeowners may be eligible for and the amount of money residents are expected to save by switching to solar power.
Saskatoon's Low Emissions Community plan identifies a potential target of 10 megawatts of residential solar capacity by 2030 and 50 megawatts by 2050. Another target in the plan is 20 megawatts of industrial solar capacity by 2030 and 200 megawatts by 2050.
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With files from CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning