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Shining on
Interest growing in solar power

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 25, 2015

INUVIK
Under the endless daylight of an Inuvik summer, it should come as no surprise that interest is growing in solar power.

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Sheena Adams, Inuvik co-ordinator for the Arctic Energy Alliance, is advocating the use of more solar power in the region. Here, she uses a sun tracker to determine the optimum location for a solar panel. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The Arctic Energy Alliance held a seminar on solar power June 10, with more than 20 people in attendance.

What started as a primer on solar power by visiting alliance staff member Steve Outlet quickly became something more than that, as many of those present, such as John Boudreau, were more than novices.

With the high cost of energy in the North, many people expressed an interest in alternative energy sources.

However, there was a bit of a skepticism openly aired, as well.

"I'd be very interested in solar power, if I could afford it," said Dave Kaufman bluntly.

Outlet agreed that while solar power has many attractive qualities, it's also "very expensive" to install.

Miki O'Kane, who owns a house at Shell Lake, said she is very interested in alternative solutions to her mounting utility costs.

She said she can pay as much as $2,500 a month in utilities at the house, and that's not a cost she's willing to pay forever.

Boudreau said he has been experimenting with a solar power system at his property for more than two years now, with some success.

He told the group that while solar power is somewhat viable, it's not a replacement for easier and less expensive ways to lower your energy bill, such as simply reducing energy.

Outlet enthusiastically agreed with that sentiment, saying "reducing energy is the easiest way to go."

"Sometimes you can't have all your toys," he added.

The North has one of the best climates in the world for solar energy production, Outlet told Inuvik Drum the following day.

"It's productive almost anywhere in the world, but particularly here," he said.

Solar power has certain limitations that users must recognize, Outlet said. Some are obvious, such as shaded locations or, as is the case in the North, dark winter months when energy production is basically impossible.

Solar panels and their productivity is also impacted by ambient temperatures. The cooler the temperature, the more efficiently they produce power, he explained.

That's why the North, particularly areas above the Arctic Circle that experience long periods of 24-hour daylight, are ideally suited to harvesting solar power.

While the weather can certainly turn hot in the summer, such conditions don't persist long enough to be much of a factor, nor do our temperatures tend to be hot enough in the first place to provide much of a hindrance, he said.

In many places in the North, particularly in the Arctic Circle, trees are generally not much of a factor in creating shade.

"The North is the most efficient climate in the world for solar power," Outlet said, at least in the summer. "If the sun is out, the panels are producing"

Theoretically, if the panels are kept clear of snow and are oriented properly, the devices can begin producing energy as soon as the sun creeps above the horizon in early January. But, it would be minimal at that time, Outlet said.

By March, when the days have lengthened considerably, the panels could produce a larger amount of power very efficiently in the still-cold temperatures.

"There's a very reasonable annual solar resource," Outlet said.

During the summer, one of the major impediments to solar power in the Inuvik region is the amount of dust, he added. The panels need to be cleaned regularly, since tests have shown that even a small amount of dust reduces the efficiency of the panels.

The development of solar panels is still in its infancy in the NWT, said Sheena Adams, Inuvik co-ordinator for the Arctic Energy Alliance.

The GNWT is is in the early stages of introducing regulations and establishing policies, and instead of merely adopting frameworks that have been a success elsewhere in Canada, it's developing its own strategy.

Most of the solar expertise in Canada comes out of Ontario, Outlet added, and those southern workers are in demand here for solar power installations.

"My dream is that someone in this room will become a solar power system installer," Adams said.

She's recently been trained in solar power applications and will be promoting its use in the region more heavily in the future.

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