IRON SPRINGS, Alta. — Farmers harvest the sun by growing plants, using the sun’s energy to grow food and other products.
John Kolk, a farmer from Picture Butte, Alta., is a middleman in that equation.
Since last year, he has generated electricity from an array of solar panels erected in a pivot corner of one of his fields near Iron Springs.
The electricity from the 10 kilowatt, three-phase, 460 volt solar system operates his irrigation pivot and grain bin aeration system. It produces about 13,500 kilowatt hours per year.
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The system cost about $55,000, said Rick Dunsmore of Goose Creek Renewable Energy Inc., which built the system and its rack.
But Kolk said it hasn’t paid for itself yet, and under provincial regulations, it won’t for some time.
“I can tell you at this point, just to get enough energy out of this to pay for the system, not even the interest, right now it’s about 17 years, so it’s not very effective because it has a 30 year life. But that’s going to change. And you’ve got to start somewhere,” said Kolk.
Under the provincial microgeneration regulations, the power produced from solar arrays like this one enters the Alberta electrical grid and is tracked. That amount is then deducted from the owner’s bill.
However, the owner is not credited for any extra electricity the array generates beyond his own use.
“At this point, the payback under net metering is relatively low and the capital costs are a bit high,” Kolk said.
Electrical rates fluctuate and are now six to nine cents per kW hour, he said.
“Even if we were at 15 cents, it would start paying back, but right now, no. It’s kind of like having a golf game habit. It costs you money and hopefully you enjoy it.”
Kolk showed his solar project to area residents Aug. 24 when he invited Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful Gary Mar to make a campaign stop here.
Mar praised the microgeneration regulations adopted in 2008, but said his environmental policy will go further, allowing those generating electricity from renewable sources to get paid for what they produce beyond their own use.
Kolk is in favour of that idea. “What we should be doing is setting these things up at a cost efficient scale rather than fixing them to regulatory sizes. That’s why we need to look at some changes in the regulatory part so that this can become a revenue generator for producers.”
In southern Alberta, electricity to run irrigation pivots is one of farmers’ variable costs. Solar electrical production payments could offset costs in the four or five months of the year that pivots operate.
In the other seven months, the panels could contribute to the grid and pay farmers for the electricity produced.
Until recently, technology didn’t allow reliable solar generation in winter, but Sustainable Energy Technologies based in Calgary now has inverters that will operate in temperatures from -40 to 50 C.
Brent Harris, chief technology officer for the company, said the inverters have been available for more than a year. Most installations have taken place in Europe and Ontario, though 25 were installed in Alberta last year.
To put solar generation in perspective, Harris said Germany installs about half of all new solar power generation systems in the world and now has about 25,000 megawatts of solar power.
