News
19-Feb-2019- Regina SK
Why We Love Solar
In Southern Saskatchewan, Regina is a sweet spot for solar power generation with an average of 2267 hours of sunlight per year. We receive as much sun, on average, as Melbourne, Australia.
What about the money? Is it worth it?
Regina receives 1360 peak sun hours annually. Basically this means that every panel installed in Regina will have 1360 hours of energy production per year. Vancouver receives 1007 peak sun hours annually. If we have a 300 watt solar panel in Regina, that panel will produce roughly 408,000 watts in a year. That same panel in Vancouver will produce 302,000 watts in a year. This means that systems in Regina can be built to a reduced size, which in turn saves money.
In the past, we were looking at systems to pay for themselves after almost 20 years. If you weren’t financially inclined, solar didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. However in the last 10 years, solar prices have dropped significantly. Equipment costs and panel efficiencies are continuing to improve. Coupled with Net Metering from SaskPower, systems are now paying for themselves in 15 - 20 years.
What about Wind and Geothermal?
There is a lot of potential with wind and geothermal. While WSC is primarily dealing with solar, we are not opposed to working with other renewable energies in the future. One hurdle for wind and geothermal is the cost of entry is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. While we are not at that scale yet, we do have the potential to grow to a point where wind and geothermal are feasible projects.