Another Year of Record Solar Growth
Mar. 04/19
Change for Climate is a climate change initiative from the City of Edmonton.
Mar. 04/19
Change for Climate is a climate change initiative from the City of Edmonton.
Solar electricity has been a hot topic of late in the fight against climate change. From the announcement of solar in Alberta providing cheaper electricity than natural gas power plants, to the number of times Edmontonians surprise us with their questions about the latest and greatest technologies, we can feel the excitement in the air.
The 2018 figures are in, and if solar installation growth continued at the rate we saw in 2018, we would hit our target of supplying 10% of the city's electricity locally in 2029 - one year early!
Graph showing the percent of Edmonton’s community electricity provided by local solar generation.
In 2018, the amount of solar capacity installed in Edmonton was 54% more than was installed in the whole period between 2010 to the end of 2017.
Also, Edmonton’s solar capacity is spread out, with over 687 solar generating locations in the City. This adds resilience to the electricity system.
Solar is set to rapidly increase in adoption as well. Jayman BUILT announced solar will come standard on all their new homes, adding around 750 solar systems per year. Likewise, many other builders’ new homes are performing better than code when it comes to energy as well.
It’s no coincidence that solar adoption has rapidly increased since 2017, with the provincial Climate Leadership Plan adding a solar rebate in June 2017, and the City of Edmonton adding a further top up for Edmontonians through the Change Homes for Climate Solar Program in June 2018.
Edmontonians have fully embraced these incentives, adding larger than expected systems to their homes. The average system size has been 7.5 kW (the average Albertan home would only need a 6 kW system to produce all their electricity on an annual basis). You can see current participants’ average system costs and incentives received under the program below.
The average participant has saved 35% of their total system cost, and will save on their electricity bill for decades to come.
These incentives won’t last forever though, so get started today!
To play around with the first two charts in this article, visit the open data visualization of Edmonton's Solar Power Installations.
