B.C. homeowners call for less red tape for solar

[maryjane48]

The 12 panels themselves had already cost McCutcheon about $15,000. However, he also had to pay $628 for Surrey building and electrical permits, as well as an additional $1,596 for the professional engineering required before the city would even give him the go-ahead for the installation.

Even electrical workers agree that the permits are too much of a burden.

“[The city should] lower the permit fees or eliminate the permit fees on solar or green energy,” Hans Wekking of Wekking Electric said. “This way, we can still get the engineer involved and the customer gets half the bill of what he’s getting right now.”



In B.C., there are no such incentives, which McCutcheon says is a mystery for such an environmentally-minded province.

“Why we don’t start moving in that direction is beyond me,” he said. “It just makes sense. This is clearly the way the future is going and we need to move in that direction.”

The City of Vancouver’s regulations for solar panel installation are equally restrictive. The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation estimates the cost of all the permits required to install solar panels in Vancouver is six times what it costs for an equivalent system in Toronto or Calgary.


http://globalnews.ca/news/3113927/b-c-h ... 45449378=1


yes well why have incentives when we can dam every waterway in sight .

[hobbyguy]

The guy should quit whining.

The reasons for electrical inspections , permits, engineering are all well established and justified. It prevents the guy from burning his house down or having his roof cave in because the snow load factor has been exceeded, among other things.

Hydro power is solar power.

[spooker]

The guy should quit whining.

The reasons for electrical inspections , permits, engineering are all well established and justified. It prevents the guy from burning his house down or having his roof cave in because the snow load factor has been exceeded, among other things.

Hydro power is solar power.

Hydro power is not solar ... there are extra fees attached to it ... if someone is willing to put up the panels, and make sure they they won't cave in or burn down ... then let's help them ...

Considering the 7,300 customers without power in the Mission area of Kelowna who were graced with that due to power grid overload ... I bet any one of them would have loved to be off the grid with having their own solar system (with batteries)

Taking a personal stake in electrical generation is something that should be encouraged ... I'd do it if my house faced the right way ... sadly I don't have enough roof pointing in the right direction for a reasonable ROI

[GordonH]

Hydro power is not solar ... there are extra fees attached to it ... if someone is willing to put up the panels, and make sure they they won't cave in or burn down ... then let's help them ...

Considering the 7,300 customers without power in the Mission area of Kelowna who were graced with that due to power grid overload ... I bet any one of them would have loved to be off the grid with having their own solar system (with batteries)

Taking a personal stake in electrical generation is something that should be encouraged ... I'd do it if my house faced the right way ... sadly I don't have enough roof pointing in the right direction for a reasonable ROI

solar panels don't need direct sunlight to work, just daylight.

[hobbyguy]

Ummm... solar energy hits the earth, heats the ocean, creates clouds, clouds rain, rain collects in rivers, we tap into rivers for hydro power, water goes back into the ocean, solar energy hits the earth, heats the ocean etc. etc.

Nature is waay better at it than a Chinese made solar panel.

ALL forms of renewable energy are solar powered, except geothermal.

IF you have hydro grid power available, you are indeed already using almost 100% solar generated renewable energy.

[Jlabute]

The guy should quit whining.

The reasons for electrical inspections , permits, engineering are all well established and justified. It prevents the guy from burning his house down or having his roof cave in because the snow load factor has been exceeded, among other things.

Hydro power is solar power.

That's for sure. You need permits just to put posts in the ground. There have been a lot of house fires from solar installations. I would feel unsafe with solar panels, inverter, wiring, batteries, etc.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/e ... -home.html

http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/6 ... auga-home/

http://joannenova.com.au/2014/05/solar- ... r-company/

http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/333986 ... tanburg-co

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/ ... ng_strike/

Endless stories of solar disasters. If you love your children, don't go solar (hydro is good solar). :-)

[spooker]

Ummm... solar energy hits the earth, heats the ocean, creates clouds, clouds rain, rain collects in rivers, we tap into rivers for hydro power, water goes back into the ocean, solar energy hits the earth, heats the ocean etc. etc.

Of course you can go back here ... the argument follows for wind power too ... but putting solar panels up yourself takes out the natural middleman (water cycle) and the unnatural middleman (fortis/bchydro)

Nature is waay better at it than a Chinese made solar panel.

ALL forms of renewable energy are solar powered, except geothermal.

IF you have hydro grid power available, you are indeed already using almost 100% solar generated renewable energy.

The argument isn't about the "original" source of the energy ... we're talking about allowing people to have some control of their own ... distributed resources can be more reliable than centralized ... just like democracy is viewed as better than autocracy, distributing the decisions among the many instead of leaving it in a single monarchy ...

That's for sure. You need permits just to put posts in the ground. There have been a lot of house fires from solar installations. I would feel unsafe with solar panels, inverter, wiring, batteries, etc.

And we're seeing things like the PowerWall from Tesla ... progress makes it safer and more plug-n-play ...

[Jlabute]

I don't understand how having the Powerwall is safer than not having one.
Any lithium battery technology is dangerous, and a large battery pack with hundred of individual cells has a higher risk of a cascading failure. Hydro is by far the best option... especially since a $15,000US battery only has a 10 year life at best. I don't want to pay that, do you? That does not include an inverter, or solar cells, or installation costs, permits, etc etc.

http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge ... rwall.aspx

[spooker]

I don't understand how having the Powerwall is safer than not having one.
Any lithium battery technology is dangerous, and a large battery pack with hundred of individual cells has a higher risk of a cascading failure. Hydro is by far the best option... especially since a $15,000US battery only has a 10 year life at best. I don't want to pay that, do you? That does not include an inverter, or solar cells, or installation costs, permits, etc etc

Considering Tesla's track record with their cars I would expect that the risks that lithium batteries represent will be as well mitigated. Their battery packs in the car have to deal with harsher conditions so there has to be something there ...

I'm not trying to say that any single product right now is the solution for everyone ... the industry is still fledgling ... but if the governments don't open up possibilities then it won't get to the point of being an attractive alternative ... same way with the evolution of the cars that came from Tesla ... if I can have a reasonable 5 year payback period on investing in solar for my house I would consider it ... (right now the typical payback is almost 10 years)

Hydro is a great option for the greatest number of people at the moment ... but look at what's happening around Site C and it makes you wonder if that is everything we'll ever need ... flooding land that could be growing crops or supporting a forest that captures carbon ... what's the priority?

[Merry]

http://joannenova.com.au/2014/05/solar- ... r-company/

The following line, taken from the above article, ought to resonate with all of us:

It also goes without saying that any rushed government program with massive subsidies will attract shonky operators.

Even though I agree Govt has a role to play in helping people transition to renewable energy sources, I also think they need to take their time and really think through how they're going to implement it. Because the stories in Jlabute's post illustrate the bad things that can happen if such policies are rushed through.

Knowing how the Liberal Government in Ontario rushed their energy policies through without taking the time to make sure they got it right, I have to wonder if, in addition to soaring Hydro costs, many Ontarians should now be worrying about having hired potentially "shonky" operators to install their solar alternatives. Scary thought, and a lesson we all need to learn so that our own Government doesn't go down such a foolish path.

I'm all in favour of solar energy, and would like to see more of it, but it has to be done right. Safety must be paramount.

[Jlabute]

As I recall from news, quite a number of Tesla vehicles have spontaneously combusted due to battery issues and accidents. There are not so many on the road yet. One never knows, you could have a new Tesla model come out called the Note-7. lol. Lithium is not the technology we need. It is explosive, poisonous, and low power density and limited life-span for what is needed. Expensive, and reduced capacity in cold temperatures.
Once large scale battery tech goes in homes, it becomes an issue for fire-fighters who want to avoid explosive dangerous products.
10 year payback sounds fairly short. Using an online calculator, if I don't want to use any hydro electricity, where I am in Canada I need to install 120 panels and it would take me 24 years to pay back... which goes beyond the warranty of any components.

[hobbyguy]

When I do a payback for my own home, it works out that I pay 80% more for electricity with solar in BC (obviously Arizona or California [where they subsidize the heck out of it] are better cases. That's based on the alternative of investing the money at 3% and using the solar generated power delivered by Fortis.

Solar only starts to make sense IF you ignore the pollution costs of Chinese made panels (that's a lot of pollution cost!) and go with their cheap panels - think those will last 25 years (hahahaha)? AND you need to be paying at least .18 per kWh Canadian. Which is why you see solar panels in places like the Yukon where grid power is like .60 and up. Even California with grid power rates of .173 usd (.23 cad) has to subsidize solar panels heavily.

California does the subsidy because 1) they are short of power and 2) they don't have enough renewable power. BC is in neither situation and our future needs will be covered nicely by site C.

Beware of energy "fads". Solar is really in fashion right now. Remember when geothermal for houses was touted as the best thing since sliced bread? How about private suppliers of natural gas for guaranteed prices? How are those working out?

If you do a careful analysis you will find that yup, solar is pretty good in Arizona - they receive double the solar energy per sq ft as BC! Much of the "information" out there is based on such locations. And if you consider all of the factors, and the higher costs, and you still want to do it - go right ahead - but do NOT expect the rest of us to subsidize your folly.