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Glenbow Archives PA-4040-34
A“powerful”story
Today’s solar panels may not
look a whole lot different than this one—
located in a pasture on the Usher Ranch
in east-central Alberta—did 20 years ago.
However, the technology for pumping
water with solar energy has improved,
becoming more efficient and more cost
effective.
Although specific details for this instal-
lation aren’t available, solar experts say
this appears to be about a three-square-
foot, 50- to 100-watt panel used to collect
solar energy in a “solar direct” system,
powering a pump that delivers water to
the storage tank in the background. The
flat panel laying on a wooden platform
was strictly a summer system. On overcast
winter days, once the snow had arrived,
it wouldn’t be effective, and this storage
tank wasn’t winterized either.
The technology has developed over the
past 20 years, and today’s solar panels are
more efficient. Also, in more than 90 per
cent of modern installations, batteries are
used to store power, and heated or heavily
insulated tanks or troughs (capturing
thermal heat from the ground and water)
are used, making it possible for solar-pow-
ered watering systems to run year round.
A solar panel today would be mounted
on an aluminum frame and angled at 45
degrees to catch maximum solar effect in
summer, and be set at about a 20-degree
angle for winter use.
Back in the day, this system may have
cost about $10 per watt, while today a
similar system would fall in the range of
$2 to $3 per watt.
The Ushers ran a progressive ranching
operation near Scollard and Big Valley in
east-central Alberta. Tom Usher and his
brother Charlie, both born in Scotland,
came to Alberta in 1902 and 1903, respec-
tively. Originally, they worked for one of
Alberta’s first large-scale beef producers,
William Roper Hull, on his ranches, but
the brothers eventually bought their own
operation. Their sister, Eliza Jane Usher,
kept house for her brothers.
Tom was a longtime member and
director of the Western Stock Growers’
Association. In 1990, the Rumsey Ecologi-
cal Reserve was established on the Ushers’
leased lands, and the remaining portion
was declared a natural area. The lease was
sold in 1999 and the remaining deeded
land was sold in 2008.
AGAINST
THE GRAIN
Spring
2017
Grains
West
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