Solar in the Mountains

• - September 30, 2014

If you are looking for a reason to visit Canada’s spectacular Rocky Mountains sign up for a tour of Banff’s Town Hall solar power system. Town of Banff environmental coordinator Chad Townsend will show the invertor room, a sample solar panel like the ones on the roof of Town Hall, and a year’s worth of production data. And if you are loving in Banff or considering moving there you can also find out about the town’s new solar incentive program.

“Canada’s Rockies reach heights of just under 13,000 feet. This creates the possibilities significant shading across roofs and walls where solar technologies might be placed,” said Marlene Moore, VP of marketing with Green Power Labs Inc. She added “for this reason, solar installers must consider shading impacts when positioning solar panels”.

Green Power Labs’ unique fish eye analysis tools allow for an in-depth understanding of how shading decreases the available solar resource over the course of a day or a year. “This obstruction analysis is critically important and supports our work in forecasting output from distributed rooftop systems,” Moore added.

Green Power Labs’ Solar Rating Online is a simple but effective tool for homeowners to better understand the role solar might play in their energy mix. In addition to considering location, slope and orientation, Solar Rating Online allows homeowners to add potential shading at the site where solar panels will be located. “Together this information allows Solar Rating Online to give a basic understanding of solar’s potential.”

For a FREE report visit www.solarrating.ca