Fawcett charged up about installing solar panels

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This article was published 26/11/2016 (3475 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff Fawcett may be one of the first in Brandon to take the solar powered plunge, but he hopes it will lead the way for more in southwest Manitoba to harness the energy of the sun.

Fawcett’s home is drawing power from a new 5.5-kilowatt solar energy installation from Solar Manitoba, and is the first project in Brandon completed through Manitoba Hydro’s rebate program for solar power installations.

“I’ve had my house for around 19 years, and as soon as I saw it — and the fact that it’s on a hill and south-facing — I just thought I should put solar panels up there,” said Fawcett, who is a city councillor.

While researching solar panels and speaking to experts from other provinces and the U.S., Manitoba Hydro came out with a rebate program, which made Fawcett’s decision to install the system a no-brainer.

“They were able to install my system more or less within a day,” Fawcett said.

“There is very minimal upkeep, that’s one of the benefits is there’s zero maintenance cost, and the life expectancy of 25-45 years.”

Even with the rebate, solar power installations do not come cheap.

It cost approximately $20,000 to install 20 photovoltaic panels and other infrastructure at Fawcett’s home, in which he earned back 25 per cent through the rebate.

The installation is expected to generate enough electricity to cut his hydro bill by about 30 per cent a year.

How much solar energy is produced will fluctuate as well, Fawcett said. Winter hours greatly narrow the amount of sunlight in a day, therefore slowing down solar energy produced.

However, on clear and sunny days, the meter will actually start running backwards as more solar energy is produced than the house is using.

“It will take a while to pay for itself, and I was aware of that, but that being said, it will take less time to pay for itself than originally thought, because we know hydro rates are going up over the next couple of years,” Fawcett said.

“One of the current disincentives to a degree is that hydro is so inexpensive in Manitoba relative to everywhere else.”

However, Fawcett sees a bigger picture — the more Manitobans harnessing the power of the sun, the more surplus energy Hydro will have to sell to neighbouring provinces, he said.

“What I would like to see, is southwest Manitoba has some of the absolute best sunlight for solar in the country, plus we do have this reliable source of hydro … if we could work that efficiently, utilize both and then sell as much as we can to other provinces, that would be really good … make Manitoba Hydro a bit more of an asset to us,” Fawcett said.

“If it’s managed properly, we could help out other provinces with our sale of power.”

Fawcett said solar panels are not an option for everyone, but he’d like to see houses developed with the possibility to add solar power in the future.

“There’s a lot of places in Brandon that wouldn’t be that efficient, they just weren’t built that way. It would be great to see some of the newer homes built with it in mind,” Fawcett said.

If any Brandonites are interested in harnessing solar energy, Fawcett said there is an open invite to come by his house and see how the system works.

“I wanted my boys to experience and see that these are options that we can use for energy,” Fawcett said.

“It’s maybe been a little more expensive than necessary science experiment we’ve been doing … but it’s been an interesting experience for them to see the process.”

Manitoba Hydro’s Power Smart Solar Energy program offers a rebate of $1,000 per kilowatt on residential and commercial solar power installations, which, like in Fawcett’s case, can cover up to 25 per cent of the up-front cost.

Hydro also offers a residential loan with 4.9 per cent financing to cover the cost of installation up to $30,000.

» edebooy@brandonsun.com

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