Off the grid
Alberta could generate all the electricity it will need well into the future if only 10 per cent of homes started making their own electricity, says Red Deer MP Bob Mills.
Within the next few weeks, Mills and his wife Nicole will switch their remodelled and expanded farm house to a combination of solar and conventional power.
It will become the first home in Alberta equipped with two power meters: one to measure the power they buy and the other the keep track of the power they sell.
“I want to sell into the grid, just to show it can be done.”
Going solar brings to life a long-time dream of Mills that in many respects had become a regulatory nightmare.
It’s a nightmare from which he hopes to spare other homeowners now that his own project is nearing completion and ready for final approvals.
Mills’ history as an advocate for the environment goes back to the early 1960s, when he first started teaching biology at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in Red Deer.
When he and Nicole first built their house 17 years ago, they made it as energy-efficient as possible, including triple-pane glass in all the windows.
“To me, it’s something that Bob has always talked about doing,” says Nicole.
“I wanted an outdoor porch and so it went from there.”
Nicole got the addition she wanted in exchange for agreeing to build the power system and putting up with the grief that would go along with living in a construction zone.
That in turn provided her husband with a new roof big enough to hold the solar panels and erected to the exact pitch needed to capture maximum sunlight.
The southwest roof on the addition is angled at 51 degrees, roughly matching the property’s latitude.
Didsbury electrical contractor Erhard Hermann, who is in charge of the work on the Mills home, says matching the pitch to the latitude gives the panels maximum possible exposure to the sun.
Hermann converted his own home to solar power about five years ago. His home is completely off grid, meaning it is self-sufficient in electrical energy. Unlike Mills, he does not sell excess electricity back to the power company.
Mills’ new roof now carries 28 solar panels, each capable of generating 208 watts of electricity, says Hermann.
The panels are laid over steel roofing, selected for longevity. It makes no sense to have solar panels that will last a lifetime laid over a roof that will need repair in 25 years, says Mills.
The panels will easily capture enough sunlight year round to generate the 5,600 kilowatt hours for which Mills has received approvals.
It was the process of getting those approvals that almost scuttled the project.
Mills has three green binders filled with the forms he had to complete to gain the necessary permits and approvals.
They include forms seeking permission from Fortis to connect to their substation; approval from what was then the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board to generate power; and a membership in the Alberta Electrical System Operator, which manages the grid.
“These forms are daunting things. And I looked at them, and I said, ‘How would I go through all of this?’ But because I committed to go through all of this, I was determined that it was going to happen.”
The application process was designed for a gas plant, and completely overlooks the simpler and cleaner generation systems now available to homeowners, says Mills.
The EUB wanted a noise study on the project, which Mills says makes no sense because the sun doesn’t make any noise. The provincial regulator also required that a power plant be sited at least 300 metres from any residence.
“I would have to put my roof in the middle of my field.”
With help from his Red Deer office assistant, Scott Deederly, Mills plowed through all the paperwork and went through the regulatory hoops, doing every thing he could to meet the requirements.
There were times when it became so frustrating, he came close to throwing in the towel.
Mills readily admits that his position as an MP and his special interest in environment carried him a lot further than he could have gone in either of his former careers as a biology teacher and travel agent.
“The job opened a lot of doors for me that wouldn’t have opened otherwise.”
The Energy and Utilities Board finally gave its stamp of approval in mid-March.
“That means we can install the system. And then we have to have an electrician come out and prepare to hook up a second meter, so he has to do the wiring for that. And then we have to have an electric inspector, and then we get final authorization from Edmonton that we are now a producer.”
“What we need is a simple form, a simple process for people producing under a megawatt.”
Young people building a house and financing it over 25 years could find that the capital costs of building a system like this will be relatively small, especially weighed against the benefits.
Solar energy is still an expensive alternative to conventional electricity, says Hermann. But that will change as power rates climb, he says.
Mills hopes to see significant adjustments in the regulations to help provide more incentive for those people who want to make the conversion or build solar energy into their new homes.
The province will introduce new regulations next January, designed to help encourage more people to generate their own power.
Besides improving the application process, the province needs to raise the price available for small producers selling into the grid, says Mills.
He receives 13 cents per kWh, compared with the 42 cents paid in Ontario.
Ultimately, Mills hopes his own work at becoming the first home to sell into Alberta’s power grid will also help open doors for other homeowner who wish to follow suit.
“Ours is probably going to cost us way more than what it will cost next year, when the next guy wants to do it.”
Contact Brenda Kossowan at bkossowan@reddeeradvocate.com
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