25 / 52
Spring
2017
grainswest.com25
farm went a long way to show urban Albertans that farmers are
committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
In theory, his system should produce as much electricity as his
farm consumes, making his operation “net zero” when it comes
to energy use.
“When I tell my city friends that I’ve put solar panels on, they
think it’s really cool,” he said. “Right away, there was a little more
credibility.”
Despite the advantages that solar has to offer from a financial
and environmental perspective, the technology does come with
a couple important caveats. Chief among these is the long period
of time required for most solar PV systems to pay for themselves.
“Even as the price of solar PV equipment has dropped over
the last two to five years, the price of electricity in Alberta has
also dropped significantly,” said Kelly Lund, research engineer
for on-farm energy systems at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
“So the payback hasn’t changed all that much.
“We’re just saying, as a rough guide, it’s probably still an 18-
to 20-year payback, depending on how
big of a system size it is. Some may be
able to do a bit better.”
Based on the long payback period
for most solar PV systems, Ziegler
emphasized the importance of
approaching the process with the right
long-termmindset. “It’s not a money-
maker,” he said. “Don’t ever think of
this as a revenue stream. Think of it as
offsetting your current consumption.”
SOLAR INCENTIVES
One factor that has helped convince some on-the-fence farmers
to invest in solar technology is the availability of grant funding
from the Government of Alberta through Growing Forward 2.
Applications are fielded and grants are distributed through the
On-Farm Solar Photovoltaics program.
“The Growing Forward 2 assistance for them has piqued a lot
of interest and helped to improve the economics,” Vonesch said.
For Ziegler, who had longstanding plans to experiment with
solar on his farm, the availability of grant funding was a nice
bonus that allowed him to start the process ahead of schedule.
“It wasn’t the driver for the decision, but the funding allowed me
to do this three years earlier than I thought I could,” Ziegler said.
The On-Farm Solar Photovoltaics program has now been
running for the better part of a year, and Lund said applications
for funding have continued to trickle in at a reliable rate as farmer
interest in solar slowly spreads across the province. “It’s kind of
a slow and steady interest,” she said. “Certainly, every month
we’re getting new applications. The interest is still out there.”
For qualifying farmers, the program funds solar PV systems at
a rate of $0.45/watt for third-party contractor-installed systems,
to a maximum of 20 per cent of the project costs. The program
is “fairly modest by design,” according to Lund. But when
systems roughly the same size as Ziegler’s can cost $30,000 to
$40,000, saving 20 per cent can be significant. Self-installed
systems are funded at a much lower rate, and both self- and
contractor-installed systems qualify for funding at a higher rate if
an energy assessment has been conducted.
To be eligible for the program, a farmer’s solar plans must
meet several criteria. Important among these are requirements
that solar PV systems must be connected to the grid and
comply with Alberta’s micro-generation legislation.
“Any project that is submitted for approval has to qualify as a
micro-generator. So they can only produce as much electricity
on an annual basis as they would use, more or less,” Lund said.
“It’s not an avenue for commercial generation.”
Currently, the program can fund up to a maximum of
$50,000 or 100kW of solar generation capacity for each
applicant. According to Vonesch, this has led the owners of
many large-scale farming operations, which include a number
of Hutterite colonies in the province, to wait for a better deal
that could emerge down the road.
“They see this grant as maybe not
enough for them to make a big leap into
solar because they want to do a much
larger system that has a more meaningful
effect on their total energy use,” he said.
However, according to Lund, “if
people can qualify for systems that are
larger than that where we would max out,
we’ll still fund to the limit. If they wanted
to do a 250kW system, and that system
still qualified as a micro-generator, we’d
still fund to the limit of our program. It’s not that they would have
to size it smaller to qualify.”
TAKING THE PLUNGE
For farmers who are interested in purchasing a solar PV
system for their operation, once they get in touch with one
of the province’s solar providers the process is relatively
straightforward, according to Vonesch.
“We usually start with some high-level, ballpark numbers
and the economics based on their [energy] consumption
or what their size will allow for a system,” he said. “If that
has piqued their interest still, then we’ll come out for an
assessment where we’ll look at the structure we’re mounting
to—or if it’s a ground-mount, that site and the shading on site—
and then the electrical integration, and work through all those
details to be able to get back to them with a firm quote and
proposal.”
Farmers can choose between having their new solar PV
systemmounted on the roof of an existing structure on their farm
or on the ground. According to Vonesch, the right mounting
location varies depending on the customer, but a roof-mounted
systemwill be cheaper because you don’t need to build
foundations like you would for a ground-mounted setup.
“When I tell my city friends
that I’ve put solar panels on,
they think it’s really cool.”
–Kenton Ziegler