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commonly,” Vonesch said. “Also,
they’re typically not going anywhere.
They plan to be on their land for a long
period of time and often over multiple
generations.”
Solar is uniquely well suited to Alberta
agriculture for another reason, one that
calls to mind the mantra of real estate
agents everywhere: location, location,
location. Just as location is one of the
most important factors in determining the
value of a house, location also dictates
the power-generating capabilities of
any given solar PV system. And it just so
happens that Alberta is a prime location
for catching some rays.
“The southeast corner of Alberta has
the best solar resource in Canada,”
Vonesch said. “To put it in perspective,
on an annual basis, systems here in
Alberta perform 50 to 60 per cent better
than those same systems installed in
Germany, which has more solar than
anyone in the world.
“We get a lot of sun year round, and
on an annual basis we get really good
production out of these systems.”
The obvious benefit of installing an
on-farm solar PV system from a business
perspective is to save money on energy
costs down the road, and many farmers
elect to have a system installed in an
effort to hedge against any future
increases in the cost of electricity. Some
look forward to reaping the cost benefits
of “free” energy, once their total energy
savings equal the cost of their system.
However, others like Ziegler look beyond
the dollar figures, to benefits that are a bit
harder to quantify with ones and zeros.
As concerns about the environment,
greenhouse gas emissions and climate
change have intensified, agriculture has
been put under the microscope. As a
result, a number of efforts have been
launched to cultivate social licence
and show consumers that Canadian
agriculture is sustainable and should
be viewed primarily as part of the
climate change solution, rather than the
problem.
From this perspective, Ziegler found
that installing a solar PV system on his
SPOTTING SUNBEAMS:
Kenton Ziegler’s 13.26kW solar photovoltaic system consists of 51
roof-mounted panels.
POTTING POWER:
An inverter is required to convert the direct current produced by solar
photovoltaics into alternating current that matches the grid.