RDCK wastes Public money on solar Part 3




                              PREMEDITATED  PUBLIC DECEPTION or just plain  FRAUD!

All  applications and engineering I have reviewed for solar power systems are dishonest.  
There is always a professional consultant willing to step on their ethics and provide a phony report or write a letter of support providing credibility to pad a  grant application.

In the case of the Balfour public solar grants, the Pembina Institute was involved.  

This blog is about the Balfour Community Hall.  A grant application showing a positive economic return was necessary was created.  And the on line public data is phony.  There is no accountability.
Nothing has changed although I have pointed this out to any and all involved.


  The deception continues.


I would recommend reading THE REAL ECONOMICS OF SOLAR   

RDCK wastes Public money part 1

Part 2 

This being Part 3, and there will be more.

The RDCK information available on the web for this project shows it to be a 16kW system.  The on line data shows its a 12.4kW system, what is installed is 18kW.


To view the Balfour Community Hall on line public information click here.

Using the on line data will fool anyone using this for their calculations, its actually data from the full 18kW installed and exaggerates performance.  In reality the system works about 25% less than all other locally available public systems.


So why is the system making 25% less power? And why did the salesmen/installers set up the on line data so it looks like only 12.4kW is installed when its actually 18kW installed?

 Possible reasons.

1.   The Alberta company had a bunch of underperforming panels they didn't want to install in Alberta           so they brought them over here,  whose gonna know?

2.   The undersized inverters can't handle all the power so this makes things look better.



Below we see the Community Hall on line data flat topping and not making use of all the available power, cheaper inverters more profit for the installers.  Whose gonna know?
Below should look like a bell curve, the inverters can't handle all the power, its wasted.


Notice above peak power flattens at about 12.1kW, 98% efficient.  NOTHING is that efficient.  18kW is installed its actually only 65% efficient.   
This system is about 25% less efficient than properly installed local systems. Its the worst of all the local systems.

They did the same thing with the Balfour Golf clubhouse system, it has east and west facing roof systems.  They show 24.8kW installed when 40.3kW is installed,  



Balfour Community Hall with 60 305 watt solar panels = 18.3kW
Represented on line as only 12.4kW,  anyone using this information for their calculations
is fooled, the system looks like the best around when its actually the worst.

The National Fire Code states one meter spaces around perimeter and
a path up the center for fire fighting reasons.  No spaces here.

The RDCK info suggests these Alberta people came here and installed for $2.68/watt I would like to see the proof.   I might believe $4/watt.  

 Install at $4/watt x 18.3kW = $73,200
Plus new roof $18,000, TOTAL: =  $91,200.

Or was it just $12,000 for the roof there is confllicting information.
Why was that forever metal roof replaced?  They said it was time, I don't believe that either.
The roof didn't need changing until the Alberta solar people came for a site visit and saw the metal roof.  The risk of leaks installing solar on a metal roof is extreme, they changed the roof so the solar system could be installed, not because the metal roof was in need of replacement.

The economics (wasted public money)

Business case payments  of $91,200, $5500/yr for 25 years,  $458/mo.

Last year the community hall solar system made 14270kWh  
A proper installation here should have made at least 18,000kWh.

Nelson hydro makes that for $124 and sells for a 1400% profit.

This was scam from the phony grant application that showed a positive economic return necessary to get the grant money, to the on line public data deceiving everyone that continues to be deceptive.



OH I forgot its grant money,  its free.............

Grants in my view are a licence to steal, applications are filled out
to get the money, it has nothing to do with honesty.



To make you feel better, you got scammed by salesmen. 
 The Nelson community solar garden scam was the result the Nelson hydro engineer and his consultant producing a phony business case for city council.
The hydro manager doesn't work here anymore.

I complained to the engineering society, they did nothing.

I offered to help the director Faust, and review any bids.  I was telling her solar here was
a complete waste of public money.  I never heard from her.
Later I spoke with her and told her I was disappointed.  She just said I don't like solar.
I told her I dont' like my public pocket being picked by people who don't know what they are doing.

Will there be more applications looking for grant money for solar systems?  I will be watching but have had little luck stopping anyone so far.







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