P.E.I. sees 'exponential growth' in solar energy production

At the beginning of 2024, most solar energy production on P.E.I. came from the rooftops of people's homes, but that has changed dramatically.

Two large-scale solar farms, Summerside's Sunbank and the Slemon Park Microgrid, have come fully online since then, and P.E.I. is suddenly producing producing more than twice as much solar energy as it was.

"With SunBank and Slemon Park coming online and all the rooftop installs it's really an exponential growth," said Spencer Long, engineering project manager for the P.E.I. Energy Corporation.

The corporation runs the microgrid, which can push up to 10 megawatts of power into the Maritime Electric system. Sunbank, owned by the City of Summerside and supplying Summerside Electric, is a 21.6 MW facility.

Both facilities came online at about the same time at the beginning of the year. As a result, monthly production that previously came largely from residential rooftop solar jumped from about 1,475 megawatt hours a month in 2023 to more than 6,000 by April.

"January, February and March we were still dealing with some operational issues," said Long about the ramp up to full power.

"Really got things nailed down and looking good in April."

The Sunbank farm followed a similar trajectory, generating small amounts of power in the late winter and hitting its stride in April.

Rooftop solar has also been growing.

Rooftop generation in 2023 was 39 MW, about four times what it was two years earlier.

While the rated output of rooftop solar is higher than the two wind farms, actual output is expected to be lower because the placement of the panels is not ideal. They may be off the ideal orientation, at the wrong angle, or partially shaded.

Actual output of those panels is also an estimate, because what Maritime Electric measures is the net metering amount. That doesn't include the electricity used on site, which never makes it into the grid.

That is estimated to come to about 30 per cent of what the panels produce.

The larger farm at Sunbank builds on a renewable energy tradition in Summerside, which already produces a significant amount of electricity from wind.