INNOVATION September-October 2014

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equipment will be less pronounced due to the law of dimin- ishing return, but there is still enormous progress to be made with the remaining project costs in the so-called “Soft-BOS” (Balance-of-the-System non-hardware), such as preliminary studies, energy yield evaluation, public consultation, envi- ronmental assessment, land acquisition, geotechnical studies, permitting, financing, interconnection impact studies, energy purchase contracting, engineering, installation, QA/QC, system optimization, maintenance, monitoring, etc. Arguably, solar equipment is not made-in-BC and comes from Asia, USA, Europe or Ontario. However, “Soft-BOS,” where the big cost cutting can be achieved, largely depends on local skills and know-how. This represents an enormous opportunity for the BC engineering community. What are we waiting for? v Michel de Spot, P.Eng., is president and CEO of EcoSmart, the driving force behind SunMine, a one megawatt PV plant currently under construction on a reclaimed industrial site in Kimberley. It is the first large-scale solar power plant in BC and the largest solar installation west of Ontario. (When completed, the solar plant may look like the set up on page 18.) Michel de Spot will be presenting a session on the topic in this article at the 2014 APEGBC Annual Conference in Vancouver, BC.

BC is not Germany. Is it possible to meet the lower price of electricity we have here? With a few exceptions, all electricity produced in our province is sold to BC Hydro. Currently, the only power purchasing mechanism with BC Hydro is the Standing Offer Program (SOP) paying about $110 per MWh for clean energy generation below 15 MW. To meet that price and provide both a decent return on investment (ROI) and internal rate of return (IRR), a solar project located in the red zone must be built for less than $2 per watt (a-toonie-a-watt). (To find out more, run the solar financial calculator at ecosmart- sun.com/lcoe-calculator/) The conditions for developing a financially-sound solar project in BC are simple: a) locate it in the ‘ red zones ’ and b) build it for $2 per watt. But is it possible to build a solar plant for that price? In established, mature markets such as California and Germany, large solar plants can be installed for less than two dollars. The prices are driven down by competition, the cut in subsidies and the low price of electricity. In California, for example, developers must sometimes compete for prices as low as 8¢/kWh. In recent years, the cost of solar technologies has decreased dramatically. PV prices went down from $6/Wp in 2008 to 60¢ today. That’s a 10-fold reduction in six years. Inverters went the same way, although not as deep. Future cost reduction in solar

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*PDHs: Continuing professional education for licensed engineers is measured in Professional Development Hours (PDHs). A PDH is one contact hour of instruction or presentation. ** This discount code ONLY applies to Epic’s regular 1 to 4 day Public Seminars and Webinars. This discount may not be used in conjunction with any other discount, sale or promotion (including OSPE and group discounts). If the group discount is greater than 10%, you will receive the group discount instead. This discount code carries no cash or transferable value. This discount code is strictly valid for NEW registrations made from November 15, 2014 to January 15, 2015. This discount will expire on January 15, 2015. EPIC On-Site Program, Where and When it’s Convenient for You All EPIC courses are available as private on-site programs to train a group of employees within your organization. Contact Tim Chugh at: 1-888-374-2338 ext 242 or tchugh@epic-edu.com for more information.

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