The BC Solar Scam

       Another grant funded solar system in the parade of grant funded systems in the Nelson Area subsidized by all Nelson hydro ratepayers. The Proctor Community Hall In my opinion this goes back to the   Nelson Community Solar garden.  It was never   an honest project . These solar grants rely on creative bookkeeping exaggerating annual power earned and Nelson hydro paying full retail for any excess solar power. I was unaware of the Proctor hall solar system until recently, there was never any news it never appeared on line with public solar data as seen from other public systems. I recently received the grant application for the Proctor Community Hall solar system. The application was for an 84 panel system, their are only 64?  The annual power earned exaggerates all know local data by 30% or more.   The Proctor Hall system winning bid of 3 came from   Sweet Spot Solar  of Kamloops.   The owner, Dr. Michael Mehta a professor, teaches renewable energy at Thompson Rivers University

                                          Data Talks and Bullshit Walks Whats wrong with this picture?   Below is the graph of  a sunny days solar output from the Balfour Golf Clubhouse Solar system. The on line public data shows 24.8kW of solar power installed.  Its actually 40.26kW installed but the phony number 24.8kW makes it look like the best local system around. Now that they have corrected the phony 24.8kW installed to the actual 40.26kW installed the three Balfour systems are all the local worst performing systems.  Making up to 30% less power than anyone else. So whats going on?  I have asked to have this corrected from the beginning, everyone was doing everything to discredit me and asscover.  Why are these systems performing so poorly?  A little of it has to do with solar panels facing E and W.  But the Seniors centre panels are optimally south and its no better. Could it be used   solar panels?  I don't think thats it, could they be underperforming solar panels they di

 As a city resident I have to be glad they are going after you rural people to pay more for Nelson hydro power excess Fortis power purchases.  Nelson hydro can't make all their power and buy half from Fortis most in winter if not all. Th is going after another  5.72% rurally each sept. 1 for the next 3 years.   In addition to the estimated normal January increases could amount to rural electric bills approaching 28% more in that time. On the morning of Feb. 8th, 2021 a new record of power consumption was created for Nelson hydro. I am sure we have had much colder times it must have been a bad coincidence that everyone got up and turned everything on at the same time. This resulted in an extra $59,000 per month charge for the next years power purchases from Fortis. There is some kind of formula, sometimes referred to as a ratchet clause,  or wire and line charges. The city estimated over $7M in Fortis power purchases this coming year, with this additional $59,000 per month  plus the

  UPDATE FEBRUARY 2022 FINALLY SOME HONESTY   Solar garden costs 47c/kWh, and they said it would reach parity in 7 years.  Nelson hydro wholesale cost of power generation about 2c/kWh,  Solar is about 25 times more, PARITY??????? Below quoted from the city website  Utility companies use Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) as a metric for investment planning. It establishes a common comparative baseline across various forms of discounted energy generation over their lifetime. An updated  project analysis  completed in February 2022 concluded that 248 panels were installed from November 2015 to June 2017 at an actual cost of $331,372 generating an average of 66,622 kWh annually, with a customer investment of $221,657.30. Calculating the LCOE from an investment perspective using the project and maintenance actuals to the end of 2021 results in an LCOE of $0.47/kWh.   At least 25 X  more than Nelson hydro's wholesale cost of power! And it adds to our carbon footprint, nothing is cleaner or

Part 2   Part 1  is prerequisite reading!  Its a prerequisite to read my blog  Understanding solar in the Kootenays first. I am an Electrical Electronics Engineering Technolgist supervisor retired from a system with over 122 solar powered remote sites.  Solar made sense, it was cheaper than flying fuel by helicopters. I know solar. I haven't seen an honest solar grant application yet and I have seen many..   Since the beginning I have asked to have the deceptive  Balfour solar systems on line public monitoring data corrected. I did try to help director Faust understand I didn't think public grant money for solar power systems was good use of public dollars.  I did volunteer to review any bids to ensure good equipment was being installed. Next I knew the systems were installed.   CBT grants   state  projects must demonstrate a positive return on investment and significant community impact CBT grants are Not Eligible if  they have a narrowly defined benefit CWF grant eligibili

 Thank you for the opportunity to comment:  PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT The Regional District has complete instructions to join their public meeting. Clear info to join and how to get the WebX app they use, the code etc.  The Nelson hydro meeting mentioned virtual meeting, time data and place and the  need to register, no mention of Zoom.  I received an email at 5:38pm with a code to join the meeting. I called a friend to ask if he was joining, he knew nothing about the meeting and asked if he could use my code.  I called him he works in IT and recognized it as a zoom code.  I had no idea, I had to download the app.  I wonder how the other 10 public participants knew how to join? The meeting began, they gave their presentations, a chat box opened where one could type in a question, these scrolled up out of sight.  One public member kept repeating his question, they seemed to pick the questions they wanted to answer.  The meeting ended. Public participation is always dismal, people don't und