Evaluation Of Solar Pv Installation In Wheatland County
Abstract
In December 2016, Wheatland County installed a rooftop solar photovoltaic system on its administration building under Alberta Municipal Solar Program. As solar incentives are new to Alberta, there are no performance reports for such systems in the province. To fill this gap, my study determines if the installation is producing energy as designed, while also evaluating its economic and environmental benefits and effectiveness of the subsidy. Actual electricity
production and insolation are compared with projections and historical averages, generating a 25- year forecast to calculate economic and environmental benefits. Simple paybacks are compared to those published for Ontario projects. Energy and environmental performance exceeds expectations
in the first eight months of operation. At the current electricity prices, it would take Wheatland County 19 years to recover its capital investment, longer than it did for Ontario projects under feed-in tariffs. Without incentives, payback time exceeds the 25-year life cycle of the system.
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Citation
Treacy, O. (2017). Evaluation Of Solar Pv Installation In Wheatland County (Unpublished report). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB.