Enmax Solar (Generate Choice)

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Hate to rag further, but I'm willing to bet you're still paying your electricity rider fees, even if you're selling back to the grid on a net basis during the month. So suffice to say, its a terrible deal no matter how you do the math.

Reminds me of all the other "faux"-eco deals out there like paying airlines to carbon offset, etc. You're paying a huge premium to feel good about yourself. There are much better ways to spend your time and money to help the environment in ways that can actually have a bigger impact.

I wasn't planning on buying them to feel good about myself. I was planning on buying them because I thought it would be cool to generate electricity on my roof. Combined with some other items I may have on the go, this would be a perfect way to supplement my house.

[Flames_Gimp]

wonder what it would it take to go off the grid completely? or is that possible with the current technology

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

wonder what it would it take to go off the grid completely? or is that possible with the current technology

Some people have done it. It's certainly possible.

[Barnes]

You also have to pay $950 dollars to have it removed at the end of the "lease".

[GGG]

Isnt it just cheaper tobuy from bullfrog power or another large scale green energy compay. Their you can feel good at 1.5 times the cost instead of 10 tomes the cost

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I guess the question is- why does the program cost so much? We all "get" that the main benefit is to be environmental; however the cost of the program is crazy.

To generate 1593kWh per year, that is about 4.36 kWh per day. So assuming 6 hours per day of exposure, 1000 watts of panels should be able to generate about that much. A quick look on eBay shows you can get panels from a Canadian seller for not much more that $1 per watt.(sample auction)

So even at 5 panels which is 1225 watts, you are at $1570. Yes, there is an inverter and I'm sure some hardware to tie into the grid; as well as a cost of an electrician. But really will all that cost another $5000?

FYI the enmax system is 1300 watts.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GGG

Does this system allow you to sell your power back to the grid when you are not using it?

If it does once we move to demand based power pricing (high price during the day and summer and cheap at night) it might payoff a little better.

We don't have this for consumers, but power is priced by time and power producers get the price from the AESO based on demand, it's set by an auction.

Micro generation (which is the regulation this falls under) can get time pricing, but it requires a different type of meter. For "mini" microgeneration, which is defined as <10kW, they meter the total amount of energy you send to the grid and pay you the average price you pay for your power.

If you had a larger microgeneration unit (10-1000 kW, defined as 'small' or 'large' micro generation in the regulation) then your wires provider will install a meter that remembers when you sold power into the grid, and you'll get paid based on the current power pool price at that time.

A 'mini' setup can apply to their wires owner (a different division of Enmax in Calgary) to have the better meter installed, but if you do that they have the right under the regulation to charge you for their cost of installing it.

One of the benefits of the Enmax program is they do the paperwork for you, and apply to the wires owner for the bi-directional meter installation. Since it's conveniently another division of Enmax, I bet they get very few objections from the wires owner.

More information on micro generation in AB:
http://www.auc.ab.ca/rule-developmen..._July%2018.pdf

[Hack&Lube]

Do they refresh the panels every year or so? Because solar tech improves every year and in 15 years, what they have would blow away what they have today.

In Germany, homes, business, farms, etc. are encouraged to go solar via government grants/tax breaks and the incentive that any power generated that is unused can be sold back into the grid so people can actually make money if they have a big enough roof or solar farm.