SSREC News Archives • Salish Sea Renewable Energy Co-op (SSREC)

21 05, 2024

Annual General Meeting (virtual) June 12, 2024; 7 – 8:30 pm Pacific Time

By SSREC|2024-05-21T13:07:31-07:00May 21st, 2024|Categories: Meetings, SSREC News|Tags: agm2024|

Hello SSREC members and other solar enthusiasts – our AGM is coming up!

Annual General Meeting (virtual)
June 12, 2024
7 – 8:30 pm Pacific Time

We have a great guest speaker, Karl Rábago, from Rabagoenergy LLC.

Karl will kick off the meeting at 7 pm, followed by our business meeting, including updates on BCHydro consultations.

Karl Rábago : ‘The Value of Solar – to you, the grid and the globe’

Feel free to submit your questions to Karl, or the Board, prior to the AGM SSRECinfo@gmail.com. There will be lots of time for Q’s and A’s with Karl.

Zoom link will be sent to SSREC members a few days before the meeting.

Non-SSREC members are welcome, but please rsvp at ssrecinfo@gmail.com, so we can send you the zoom link.

Everyone will be entering a waiting room and it may take some time for the organizer to let you in; hence we’d appreciate it if you could sign in a few minutes early.
Karl has extensive experience from over 150 Utilities Commission hearings, writing analyses and peer reviewed articles on everything solar, from the value of solar to rate design and everything in between. We’ll post his resume and activities on our website by the end of May at the latest.

Karl will be representing us, along our partners in the Community Solar Coalition, at the upcoming Net Metering rate proceedings, June 2024, at the BC Utilities Commission. Karl’s advice to us at a multi-session workshop that we have been participating in has been invaluable.

Watch our website SSREC.org and Facebook for more detailed information.

Hope to see you on June 12!

On behalf of the SSREC Board
SSRECinfo@gmail.com

SSREC has been supporting and advocating for solar power in the Southern Gulf Islands since 2018 Download Poster [PDF, 350KB]

SSREC Annual Report – April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

6 02, 2024

SSREC Annual Report – April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

By SSREC|2024-02-06T15:13:19-08:00February 6th, 2024|Categories: Annual Reports, SSREC News|

Highlights

Membership

As of March 31, 2023 we had 178 shareholders (minus 1 deceased whose estate donated his share, and 1 member who moved away and was reimbursed) for a total of 176 active members.

As the market has changed, and the price of solar panels has decreased, it is no longer reasonable to do bulk purchases.

The main reasons for becoming a SSREC member now are:

i) support our general advocacy and education work;

ii) support our advocacy with BC Hydro and intervenor status with the BC Utilities Commission

iii) obtain an assessment of the solar capabilities of people’s location

iv) support community solar installation in the future.

The geographic distribution of membership, compared to 2021/22

Installations in 2022-2023

7 members installed new solar on their homes this year.
We performed 48 assessments for our members and a few for non-members
The total number of systems for SSREC members at the end of March 2022 was 111. In addition, we had one member who moved to the east coast, and we reimbursed her share, and another who passed away and his estate donated his share.
The SSREC-supported systems have a total capacity of 870 kW (up from 826 kW in 2021/22), and produce about 900,500 kWh of electricity annually, up from 847,500 kWh in 2021/22.
The savings in carbon dioxide release over mega-hydro amount to 297 tonnes per year (up from 280 tonnes per year in 2020/21.

Screenshot SSREC Community Solar Installations in British Columbia

Update on the workings and achievements of SSREC

By SSREC|2024-01-16T15:15:09-08:00March 20th, 2023|Categories: SSREC News|

SSREC encourages islanders to go solar and provides help along the way, from planning, advising, assessments and recommending the appropriate equipment to installation. And save a few bucks along the way. Luckily, apart from the installation, our volunteers, provide support free of charge and free of risk to coop members.

Shaded roof? Old shingles? Tight budget? Confused by the options? We’re ready to take the myths out of solar and help islanders understand the importance of solar energy and how to take charge of their energy demands and day-to-day usage.

At times, it may turn out that installing a heat pump, increasing insulation and/or reducing leakage of heat from windows, basements or an attic should precede ‘going solar’. To get the conversation started, please check out our website at SSREC.org and then email us at SSRECinfo@gmail.com.

In the last six years, SSREC has been instrumental in the installation of close to 110 solar arrays on roofs of residential and community buildings, and a few ground mounts around the Southern Gulf Islands. We’ve installed close to 3000 panels with a total capacity exceeding 850 kW. These PV arrays generate close to 900,000 kWh of electricity a year, while preventing the emission of almost 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year over hydroelectricity.

Further, readers should pay attention to the upcoming federal budget apparently providing details on a 30% personal income tax credit that will be applied to expenses on solar installations and battery backup systems.

Going solar has never been more timely and less expensive.

ssrec.org
ssrecinfo@gmail.com

Photo by Erik Karits

Professional solar panel cleaning available on all the Southern Gulf Islands

17 03, 2023

Professional solar panel cleaning available on all the Southern Gulf Islands

By SSREC|2023-03-20T19:47:34-07:00March 17th, 2023|Categories: Solar News, SSREC News|

David on Galiano Island who cleans windows has expanded into cleaning solar panels on all the Southern Gulf Island (islandsolarclean.com & islandsolarclean@gmail.com) and has all the special equipment necessary to do so.

New on the SSREC website: Live Feed of a Solar System Monitoring Dashboard

28 10, 2022

New on the SSREC website: Live Feed of a Solar System Monitoring Dashboard

By SSREC|2022-10-28T17:55:54-07:00October 28th, 2022|Categories: SSREC News|

Curious about what a grid-tie solar installation with SSREC is all about? Get an instant glimpse into how it works by viewing the actual live data of a solar system currently running on Galiano Island.

Canada Greener Homes Grant Assessments

15 02, 2022

Canada Greener Homes Grant Assessments

By SSREC|2024-05-21T13:15:10-07:00February 15th, 2022|Categories: Grants, SSREC News|

Update: The Canada Greener Homes Grant closed in April, 2024 more info

Many of you may have applied for the Canada Greener Homes Grant, which provides up to $5,000 for energy efficient retrofits to your homes. These highly recommended grants include the ability to install solar energy systems ($1,000 per kW, to a maximum of 5 kW). However, these applications require an assessment by a certified EnerGuide evaluator and this has been a bottleneck in people accessing these funds.

SSREC has now arranged for a certified evaluator to come to Galiano, which is the first step in accessing these grants. If you have applied for the program and are interested in our evaluator coming to your home on Galiano please send an email to SSRECcghg@gmail.com. Please indicate clearly if you are interested in installing solar as part or all of your retrofit. Note that the cost of evaluation is around $1,300 (ouch!), but the federal government will provide a $600 reimbursement on top of the grant (eventually). If you haven’t applied yet, there is still time to do so. It saves you money and is definitely good for the environment. Let us know and we’ll send you information on our assessor that is needed to complete the application.

Contact: SSRECcghg@gmail.com

Solar Bulk Buy in 2022

15 02, 2022

Solar Bulk Buy in 2022

By SSREC|2023-03-20T19:35:20-07:00February 15th, 2022|Categories: Bulk Purchases, SSREC News|

We are delighted to announce that SSREC is organizing a bulk buy of solar this year, although our approach has changed somewhat. Our volunteers were a little overwhelmed by the size and scope of our last bulk buy in 2020/2021 which was complicated by following strict Covid-19 protocols, those tedious supply chain issues and logistics challenges from having to juggle demand from half a dozen islands. Yes, it was frustrating, but in the end, solar is ‘up’ and doing its magic, supplying electricity from the sun quietly, reliably and inexpensively. This year, there will be less waiting for the installation since we plan to hit the virtual ‘order and install’ button as soon as we have commitments from 3 to 5 solar enthusiasts in one area. Regrettably, the smaller bulk means that ‘bulk’ discount will be smaller than in previous years, but still worth it.

If you are interested in going solar, please send an email to SSRECinfo@gmail.com and we’ll do an initial free assessment of solar feasibility and start a conversation on what solar can do for you and answer any questions you may have about solar. If everything checks out and solar looks promising, we usually proceed to an on-site assessment to confirm measurements & status of roof, examine compatibility with your electrical system and perform an in-depth shading analysis – for a small fee. Only when you are completely happy with the information received, do we ask our installers for a binding quote for your solar system, including installation, registration with the utility and permitting – the works. When contacting us, please provide a street address and if google maps can’t find you or puts the marker into the middle of the shrubbery – as it often does around the islands – we will also need Latitude-Longitude coordinates. You can find those on your cell-phone. Or ask us for instructions on how to find the coordinates.

Contact: SSRECinfo@gmail.com

14 02, 2022

Update on Solar Installations

By SSREC|2022-03-10T15:59:47-08:00February 14th, 2022|Categories: SSREC News|

We’re very happy to report that SSREC has now installed more than 100 solar systems around the Salish Sea, with over 2500 solar panels (>800 kW) generating about 800,000 kWh of electricity a year. Most importantly, the combined annual savings in carbon emissions approach 200 metric tonnes of CO2e over electricity from hydropower.

Tom Mommsen & Risa Smith, SSREC

23 07, 2019

2019 Bulk Purchase/Installation of Solar Systems

By SSREC|2022-03-25T16:25:06-07:00July 23rd, 2019|Categories: Bulk Purchases, SSREC News|

The Salish Sea Renewable Energy Cooperative (SSREC) is a local cooperative of dedicated volunteers who are enthusiastic about solar energy and strive to decrease our carbon footprint and save some money along the way.

We are currently organizing another bulk purchase/installation of solar systems around the Salish Sea for our members

– to add to the 55 systems we helped install already

This is a great opportunity to join the solar revolution at a very competitive price. We’re here to help, provide information and do the preliminary work with you. We will be doing complimentary remote assessments during July and early August.

If you are interested please email SSRECinfo@gmail.com. If you would like to have a remote assessment, email us your street address or latitude and longitude coordinates and contact phone number to get things rolling.

Deadline for our 2019 bulk buy is September 30

Check out additional information at SSREC.org, where you can also find an application form to join the coop. Joining the coop is not essential for the remote assessment, but only members can participate in the bulk-purchase and there is a cost, yet to be determined, for the final on-site assessments.