By Gordon Howell, Howell Mayhew Engineering, DEC Member
The installation of grid-connected solar PV systems is growing rapidly in Alberta. We have developed a number of graphs and tables of data to describe this growth. Our summary highlights the growth since 2008 and its status as December 31, 2017.
At this point in time, most solar PV in Alberta is grid-connected micro-generation or is off-grid. There is, however, one new utility-scale solar PV farm in operation. Many others are under development.
Solar PV micro-generation
Alberta’s solar patch now has 2301 operational PV micro-generation generating units (MGGU) and 22.6 MW of PV capacity. The year 2017 has seen 565 PV systems installed, compared to 419 systems in 2016 and 304 systems in 2015. This is due to a number of factors, including the government’s incentive programs, the continuing decrease in the price ($/WDC) of PV systems and the continuing increase in awareness of people and organizations about the technology.
As per line 6 on Table #1 attached, the growth over 2017 has been 565 systems, which is a 33% annual increase in systems, and 6,523 kW or 41% in new rated generating capacity. The average cumulative growth since 2008 is 71% per year in quantity of systems and 88% per year in capacity.
Much is happening behind all these numbers of course. We are seeing the positive influence of the Alberta government’s new incentives in the Residential and Commercial Solar Programme, along with the incentives in the Alberta Indigenous Solar Program, the Alberta Municipal Solar Program and the Growing Forward program along with a general increase in interest in solar PV.
For more information about this Alberta Solar PV Update, please contact Gordon Howell at
— From DEC, Decentralized Energy Canada.