Few returns for new solar panels on seniors' home
Housing Corp. project does not qualify for net metering
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2014
HAY RIVER
While the new solar system at Whispering Willows will likely produce more power than it can use during certain periods of the year, the NWT Housing Corporation, which owns the facility, will not benefit from a program that could save it money when the days grow shorter.
"From a Housing Corp. perspective, yes, we would love to have net metering," said Scott Reid, director of infrastructure services for the department. "But we understand that we are not eligible."
Net metering is an agreement between the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Northland Utilities and the Public Utilities Board and businesses and individuals who make their own renewable power.
It allows those eligible to apply the extra kilowatts generated during peak times, to times when their systems cannot meet their own demands.
The program, however, has its limitations, including that the system not produce more than about five kilowatts. The one installed at Whispering Willows two weeks ago has the capacity to produce 12 times that amount.
As well, government is ineligible for the program.
"We expect overages at certain times, like summer when the days are that much longer," said Reid, also noting that the system was designed to produce between 50 and 70 per cent of the electricity needed to power the facility over the course of a year. "But at this time we have no data (to support that expectation)."
To that end, the corporation met with Northland last week to discuss installing a dual registered meter - a device that would measure both the power produced by the system and what goes into the grid when the facility has used all it can.
The meter should be installed within the next few weeks, he said.
"A year from now we'll have those figures and we can go forward with that information from there," said Reid.
Northland Utilities spokesperson Dwayne Morgan said the exchange of kilowatts between traditional and independent producers is more complicated than it may originally appear.
Power produced cannot be stored to be used at a later date and the intermittency of many green energy systems makes it challenging to integrate them into the grid.
"As of today, they are intermittent and expensive to put in place," he said last week.
"I have never met a customer yet who will accept intermittent power. People want to be able to walk into their house and flip a switch and know that the lights will always come on. It can stop flowing when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing."
He did acknowledge, however, that the current net metering program is only a first step toward greater integration of independent power production.
"I think when they implemented (net metering), it was understood that they needed to start some place," he said. "The difficulty in this whole thing is that there is no immediate demand for increased usage on the current grid."
Trading kilowatts produced in the summer for ones consumed in the winter would no doubt save money, but it is not the only option for the Housing Corp., said Reid.
If in a year the data supports it, he said the corporation will explore increasing its own usage of the solar powered system in order to make the most of its benefits.
"If we can't get net metering, there could be an opportunity to maximize the use here," he said.
"We would look at changes to our building or perhaps connecting with adjacent buildings."
