FILE PHOTO - Workers add solar panels to the renovated clubhouse at West Highlands Park.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kelowna-based solar panel installation company says for the last five years, sales and demand has been increasing in all types of builds for green energy.

“Things really started taking off around 2014,” said president Rob Monteith of Okanagan Solar Ltd, adding that producing solar power has become the same price as buying it from utility companies.

“That fact along with people wanting to be more green, I guess, or environmentally conscious and wanting to reduce overhead, for new construction, it makes nothing but sense because it is the most cost-effective way of installing solar,” he said.

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That being said, Okanagan Solar has clients across the board, from new condos and complexes to those wanting to retrofit older single-family homes.

“We have probably in the last five years, I would say doubled our sales every year. It’s been very busy,” Monteith said.

Last year with supply chain issues, demand outstripped supply as it took the company up to six months to get materials.

“Those problems seem to be winding down now,” he added, saying the issue now is inflation and the price of solar equipment is priced in US dollars.

“That being said, it hasn’t been that bad, people when you tell them there’s been a 10 to 12% price increase on materials, they understand at this point,” he said.

The solar panels come with a 25-year warranty and the Canada Greener Homes Grant offered by the federal government is also incentivizing people to apply get grants, he said. 

Technology has also made things cheaper as the price of panels has come down, he said. “Which makes it far more attractive and more understandable for the average homeowner.”

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The company primarily services the Thompson, Okanagan and Shuswap but also has contracts in Alberta, the Lower Mainland, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

Builders and developers have also taken interest in solar panels in condos and rental apartments that they’ll own as it’ll save them on electricity, he said.

"Right now, I'm booking installs until the end of March," he said.

Robert Godin is a UBC Okanagan researcher who examines the effectiveness of different green energy-producing technologies. He said silicone solar panel costs will not likely get much cheaper unless current labour costs go down with other technologies.

“Ultimately the efficiency isn’t the only thing you should consider,” he said.

The uptick in solar cells and panels is being driven by costs and there is actually better solar technology than what you would normally see on a home but costs are prohibitive, he said.

Silicone-solar panels, on everything from homes to NASA space crafts, are not as efficient as the ones used for critical applications. Those tend to be twice as efficient at converting sun to electrical energy at 30 to 40% efficiency whereas rooftop panels are up to 20% efficiency, Godin said.

“There’s a reason why you don’t see these 30-40% on residences, it cost much more than twice as much to make them,” he said.

“Another interesting question to think about, is what is the end use for these solar energies? You want it to give us the energy we need without us relying on fossil fuels so you need lots and lots of it and there can be very good technologies that work very well that are cheap but there are not enough materials to scale it up and at some point, they would not become cheap as well. It’s a complex question to ask, what is the best?”

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There’s also a certain point where only gathering electricity during the daytime will become a problem with bigger upticks of solar, like in California where it has produced such an excess of power, it has paid other states to take electricity, according to the L.A. Times.

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