Duane Hicks
The solar panels the town had installed on four of its buildings are reaping rewards—having generated about 67 megawatt hours, equalling $53,800 in revenue, between January, 2012 and March, 2013.
Facilities/projects co-ordinator Travis Rob noted last week that in the spring, summer, and early fall months of 2012, energy generation at the four sites—Memorial Sports Centre, Public Works building, Fort Frances Children’s Complex, and water treatment plant—was close to (and at times exceeded) the amount estimated in feasibility studies.
For example, last September was expected to yield 5,312 kilowatt hours (kW/h), but ended up generating 6,301.4 kW/h.
Meanwhile, the winter months saw below-predicted generation, with December generating merely 25 percent of the estimated amount of power—730.9 kW/h instead of the estimated 2,942 kW/h.
Rob pointed out that through the first quarter of 2013, the town saw well above-average snowfall, as well as storms in close succession and accompanied by high winds, which caused severe drifting, especially at the Children’s Complex.
This made it difficult to remove snow from all the sites in a timely fashion after each snowfall and thus affected generation, he explained.
But with spring in full swing and summer on the way, “the generation at these sites will continue to increase as the days become longer and the sun moves higher in the sky,” said Rob.
Now that the solar panels have been through the four seasons and varying weather conditions, the town has learned—and will continue to learn—how weather conditions affect generation capacity, how well panels shed snow, how often they need to be cleaned, and how reliable they are.
For example, it’s now known that solar panels will shed up to three inches of snow accumulation within a day or two in mild, sunny weather.
The town also discovered that although it had thought the solar panels would have to be cleaned in the summer to remove pollen and other debris, it was not necessary as they were cleaned sufficiently by rain.
Rob noted there have been only minor issues with the panel systems to date. But even then, the problems were with online monitoring and had no effect on generation (and thus revenue).
The solar panels at the four sites generate revenue through the feed-in tariff (FIT) program under the Ontario Green Energy Act, which guarantees specific rates for energy generation from renewable sources paid by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA).
Back in 2011, the town signed a contract with the OPA, where the town is guaranteed 80.2 cents per kW/h produced for the next 20 years.
The solar panels are expected to pay for themselves within 10 years.
They initially cost $375,000, with an estimated generation of $49,000 worth of power per year.
The installation on the water treatment plant was in the capital budget, so that particular site is paid off, while the others have been financed over 10 years.
This means roughly $33,000 of the annual revenue generated goes toward that loan while most of the balance goes into town coffers.
The solar panels generated $45,800 in 2012, and $5,500 in the first quarter of 2013.
“With the 2012 total generation totalling $45,800, we are seeing approximately $12,800 of revenue generated from theses sites currently, not including some minor additional costs for insurance and maintenance,” noted Rob.
After the loan has been paid off, the town will realize even greater profits.
