What would happen if the NWT embraced solar power?
I mean, really embraced it. Not just these one-off small array systems that can’t be marketed for commercial purposes. Not these do-it-yourself projects with tax rebates. I mean assertively accepting the many thousand hours of free energy our lovely provider, the sun, rains down on us each year.
Solar remains the fastest growing and most disruptive source of energy on the market. China, which previously came under fire for funding coal projects alongside its green transition, now appears to be rolling back its coal energy’s expected expiry date because solar is not only vastly cleaner, it’s a lot cheaper too.
Remote communities in the Beaufort Delta have modestly been able to take advantage of this new technology, when allowed. Paulatuk’s hamlet office is now burning six per cent of the diesel it used to burn for electricity. That means the money spent on covering the other 94 per cent of the buildings electrical needs can now be spent on other projects. Imagine if the entire community could be reduced to six per cent of its current diesel use - how much money would be available for Paulatuk to improve its school, recreation centre or even invest in a new capital project? The same logic applies to Ulukhaktok, Fort Good Hope or even Yellowknife.
As we’ve previously reported, every 3.5 kilowatt hours of solar — which you can get from 10 solar panels — equates to one litre of diesel. That means in a shoulder month, such as March, where Yellowknife is getting approximately 10 hours of sunlight, that’s 10 litres per every 10 panels per day. With 47 days of non-stop sunlight in summer, that amounts to 322 litres of diesel not burned over the summer, per building. You can fit roughly one panel for every 20 square feet of area. The most important factor being the panels face south to maximize their time in the sunlight.
Putting solar systems in all new buildings would significantly reduce the cost of powering those buildings. Housing NWT in particular should be striving to make sure every new home in its inventory is net zero or approaching it. There’s already a net zero home here in Inuvik to serve as a good template for what works in the frozen North and Parks Canada has a net zero duplex fully designed, costed and ready for production. This would allow families in remote communities to focus more of their financial resources on themselves rather than worrying about keeping the lights on.
But realistically, even if we put solar on every roof in the NWT — which we should with great haste — we’re still going to need more power to maintain our lifestyles and grow our economy. I have previously pushed for more hydro electricity, but given how climate change has wreaked havoc on the glaciers we depend on for flow, this is no longer looking like a viable option. Small nuclear reactors continue to get press and government funding, and also continue to push the dates they’ll have a working prototype to a few years away, but also consume significant quantities of water to keep the nuclear fission from heating things its not suppose to.
If only we had a whole bunch of open space unusable for development — oh wait, urban planning is shifting to prioritizing fire breaks as climate change moves to the “find out” phase. These wide-open spaces can’t be used for buildings, storage or agriculture, but as it turns out solar panels aren’t flammable and if you make sure the base is also able to withstand the heat, they could sit in the middle of a fire and come out relatively unscathed - though likely not as effective at generating electricity in heavy smoke.
Such a system could be built with expansion in mind as well — just ensure the solar panel mounts can be moved later on if needed. Then, a community that wants to expand can simply move its solar along with its fire break.
With the GNWT aiming for better fiscal management, every department should be examining how solar power could reduce overhead. The government’s biggest expense is the same as for the rest of us: keeping the lights and heat on. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, the sun is providing free power. All that has to happen is the infrastructure be put in place to accept this stellar gift.
Our legislative assembly has a role to play in this too. Nunavut changed legislation to allow for net metering in 2018 and here in Inuvik the buildings that were allowed to have solar panels build a credit each summer, which covers their electricity costs over winter.
Just imagine the money saved if every home and building was able to do that across the NWT. We need to invest in a full solar infrastructure and stop burning money.