The following is an advertorial for Greenfoot Energy Solutions about their solar demonstration held last week in Fall River Village.
FALL RIVER: On an overcast kind of day there was a Yeti of activity going on at one residence where a solar energy demonstration was taking place.
As you walk up the driveway to the Fall River Village subdivision home you’re greeted by a booth with information to the left and two Greenfoot Energy vans parked diagonally, and you’re welcomed on site by Home Comfort Advisors Andrea Henwood and Hayley MacDonald, homeowner of the Solar install and Business Development Rep with Greenfoot Energy Solutions.
The demonstration was put on for locals to come learn about the process and why going solar is a benefit for their pocketbook but also for the environment.
There were three, 15-minute demonstrations given and a livestream on social media to educate anyone interested in the solar energy process.
The Laker News was invited out and took part in the noon demonstration. In the one an hour earlier there were a handful of realtors and in the one scheduled after The Laker News’ visit there was a large group scheduled to stop by.
Local residents also made their way up to the home to check out and see what all the beehive of activity was all about.
“We wanted to give them a live on-site training of solar installations,” said Henwood.
“It all started by basically inviting out real estate agents because they’re collaborating with clients in the home,” added MacDonald. “The home is the largest purchase for a person. This demonstration is aimed at giving those realtors some guidance when they’re talking to their clients.”
Henwood thought that the solar demonstration was also good for community residents as it was a visual representation of what the system would look like.
“We’re here to also talk about the process involved what that looks like from a quoting stage through rebate support and installation, what people can expect once they have a solar system in place and so forth,” added Henwood.
They would also walk residents through the Canada Greener Homes loan in terms of what they can access for solar so they can get up to $40,000 interest free for 10 years.
One of the first steps would be to get a home energy assessment done, which would then be used to apply for the Canada Greener Homes loan, said Henwood.
Henwood said going solar is a great environmental choice.
“It’s also a really good investment,” she said.
Andrew Randall, another Home Comfort Advisor with Greenfoot Energy, agreed, and went a bit further in his explanation.
“Oftentimes you have to look at it from two perspectives,” he said. “One is the actual payment plan that you get to put together with the Greener Homes Loan that’s a fixed ten year payments, and then looking at the savings you will have as it’s a great way to offset the electrical in the home.”
“When you do the numbers, this homeowner was making a $37,000 return on their investment using solar. So, it’s a great solution for anybody.”
“With Nova Scotia power rates, they’ve protected themselves based on the size of their system. The one that we were looking at today was about 60% offset of their total electrical needs.
“So, 60% of the person’s electrical bill for the next 25 years and beyond is being offset by their solar generation. If Nova Scotia Power rates stay at 4 or 5% increase per year. That’s what we base our projections on. But if we see it go as high as seven, eight, and 9% in one year, then they’re protecting themselves from those rate increases and have some sense of stability and control over their own power generations.
TBA TBA, who looks after the electrical installation of the solar systems, said things move quickly from start to finish for the installation.
“First we have to start with permits, and almost every single job in Nova Scotia you need to have an additional building permit,” he said. “Once you go through that, you do your roughing, which is everything that is going to be hidden by the panels, all the wiring on the roof.
“We like to keep it as clean as possible by entering through the attics, sealing it with asphalt sealant and everything like that to make sure there’s no water leakage.”
Following that, Josh Martell said they come through the side of the house and keep everything nice, tight, and tidy.
“We start with doing the racking on the roof and once that’s all done you do your electrical and move on to the solar panels,” said Martell, Lead Electrician for the solar team for NS.
Martell said If you’re looking on having more of an energy offset, they take that into account.
“That is all part of my job,” he said. “I plan for that and do the necessary upgrades to the electrical system of the house so that it can manage what you want to generate for power.”
To find out more about solar energy, visit Greenfoot Energy’s website at: https://www.greenfootenergy.ca/ or contact their Dartmouth office at (902) 706-0917.