Solar industry sees rays of hope

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This article was published 20/12/2018 (2743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite the province’s solar energy rebate program coming to an end, one Brandon company still sees sunny days on the horizon for the industry.

Bryce Yaworsky, co-owner of Alliance Electric and Solar in Brandon, said he has a different outlook from those in the solar industry who see only doom and gloom after the end of the province’s Power Smart rebate. The program offered up to a $1 rebate per watt on approved solar panel installation, a significant saving for people wanting to go green.

“In terms the solar industry in general, I think it’s doing great,” he said.

Living Skies Solar, a Winnipeg company, announced earlier this week that it would be forced to move operations to Saskatchewan. Riley Unger, director of sales at the company, said they haven’t had any new jobs since the solar rebate ended in April.

“It was so successful and something that people have want for a very long time,” he said. “So exciting to be a part of and now it’s a really bad example of building an industry up and shutting it right now.”

The Power Smart incentive was run by Hydro Manitoba as a two year pilot program. After it ended, Cliff Cullen, Manitoba’s Crown Services minister at the time, said the program would be shifted to the newly created crown corporation Efficiency Manitoba. The Crown corporation isn’t fully set up though, and is still in the process of hiring directors.

“We will have an announcement on a new CEO for Efficiency Manitoba very soon, and we will not prejudge what the incoming CEO and the board of directors decide in terms of the solar energy program,” said Joey Dearborne, press secretary to Colleen Mayer, current minister of Crown Services.

Unger said the Westman region along the border with Saskatchewan is ideal for solar energy because it is one of the sunniest places in the country. He said the market was also there because few people living in rural Manitoba use gas for heating, so they rely on electricity.

Hydro Manitoba also badly underestimated how many people would apply for the solar rebate to help pay for solar panels, he said. Solar systems can be hooked up to the power grid to sell power back to the province, offsetting residential power bills.

“They really didn’t realize how much people hate paying their hydro bill,” he said.

Living Skies Solar hasn’t had a new job since the solar rebate ended in April, Unger said, and is just finishing up jobs people scheduled while it was still in place.

The company’s move to Saskatchewan will mean about 20 jobs leaving with a crew of two or three employees staying in the province to service existing customers.

“(Saskatchewan has) commitments to be 50 per cent renewable by 2030 and stronger commitments after that, as it should be,” he said. “It’s a really good thing and what should not be lost here is this is vital energy to Manitoba Hydro.”

Yaworsky said though that it’s not all bad for the industry in Manitoba and his business is still doing well.

He said there was a downturn in some sales after the rebate ended as it made it less feasible for people to hook up solar panels to the power grid with the intention of selling power back to the province. With the rebate gone and power prices in Manitoba so low, it makes it very difficult for someone to break even if their intention is to offset the cost by selling the energy generated by the panels. Powering standalone lights or something off-the-grid still makes sense with solar panels, though.

“The reason why we’re doing good and why I’m not really even worrying about any of that is because I don’t just do grid-tie systems, I’m doing a lot of off-grid stuff, lighting, water pumping, all sorts of things.”

While it would be very helpful for the provincial government to reinstate a solar rebate, it’s not the death of the industry, Yaworsky said. The program was most beneficial for getting people to jump on board the technology, an area Manitoba still lags in.

“Our doors are still wide open on solar,” he said. “There’s not a time when I don’t have a solar project and we’re not talking leftovers from rebate days, we’re talking about new projects that we’re picking up. … Solar as a technology; it’s got viability.”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_