Is Now the Time to Go Solar?

Source: David Dodge | · GREEN ENERGY FUTURES · | September 22, 2022

Skyfire Energy was one of the first Alberta solar companies. They set up shop 21 years ago when solar was not cheap.

“I think the parts alone for that first system, Dave built in 2001 was $22 a watt so, you know, very expensive compared to today,” says David Vonesch talking about his partner and founder of Skyfire Energy, David Kelly.

So, let’s say you wanted a 7.5-kilowatt solar system for your home. Back then it would have cost you $150,000. Today the price is ten times lower.

Source: Gordon Howell installed the first grid-connected solar array in Western Canada in 1995 on his own home. Today solar costs a fraction of the cost back in the day, Photo courtesy of Gordon Howell

Thank goodness many people really believed in the future of solar and started installing solar back then on principle. They certainly were not doing it for the return on investment.

Green Energy Futures has done many stories on solar over the years and I remember solar advocates cranking out the spreadsheets to make the case for installing solar back when solar was expensive and electricity was cheap.

Today it’s a whole different story. Solar is now the cheapest way to generate electricity and the industry is booming.