The city of Yukon installed solar panels on its government buildings a few years ago. The result: reliable solar power even in places which get little sunshine.


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Since 2009, the Yukon Energy Solutions Centre has been monitoring the performance of the solar panels installed on government buildings. They recently released a report, stating that the panels are doing their jobs despite the territory's low photovoltaic (PV) potential. Even better, the costs of these panels have been steadily dropping, as a CBC News report states.

 

"Centre director Shane Andre says solar power is getting cheaper all the time, and although solar isn't likely to take the place of LNG power generation anytime soon, Andre says it has certainly proved itself to be reliable in the North."

 

The Cold (and Dark) North

Cities like Whitehorse in Yukon and Iqaluit in Nunavut aren't exactly the sunniest places in the country. That distinction goes to the cities in the southern half such as Vancouver. 

 

The weather is usually colder and cloudier around the Arctic Circle, but the area gets its fair share of sunny days. While cities in the north enjoy the regularity of their sunrises and sunsets for most of the year, they can experience longer nights during the winter months.

 

The absence of the sun had initially been a concern in solar power use, but multiple studies have proven that solar panels continue to provide power even when the sun isn't shining. Even nighttime can’t deter the generation of solar power, especially in solar farms where they have perfected the art of storing the sun's heat for use in sunless hours.

 

Cooler weather does have an impact on the generation of solar energy in Vancouver, in that solar panels provided by companies like Terratek Energy work better in cool climates. The low temperatures provide the system with a natural way to cool itself. Likewise, for any days that we do get white snow on sunny days can help reflect and intensify sunlight, an event experts call the "albedo effect”. 

 

With an ample and limitless supply of sunlight, Canada will continue to develop a stable solar market in the foreseeable future. Additionally, with prices of panels getting more affordable, now would be a good time to invest in solar power in Vancouver.

 

(Source: Solar power proven reliable in North: Yukon report, CBC News, March 22, 2014)