As public attitudes change, can solar power work in the North Country?

Knowing we have months of cold, snowy, cloudy winter each year, St. Lawrence County homeowners might think using solar energy is a pipe dream in the North Country, but a Canton solar energy installer says it’s a viable, and burgeoning, alternative.

Scott Shipley of Northern Lights Solar Energy says the equivalent of southwestern sunlight isn’t needed to make home solar power a cheaper choice than NationalGrid electricity alone. The sunny days during most of the year make up for the dreary days of winter.

In fact, Shipley’s 4,000-kilowatt-hour-per-year home system, which has two large panels on the roof and a free standing panel on the ground, makes about 30 percent more energy than the household can use annually.

“The only thing that matters is the amount of sun that shines over the course of a year,” he explains. “It turns out the amount of sun we have over a year is not much different than the rest of the country.”

Shipley said he and most of his customers choose to stay “on-grid,” which means the energy his solar panels produce goes out into the National Grid and is used by everyone. It’s a kind of barter system; when it’s sunny, his panels produce more power than his home needs so the extra is given away to the grid. But when it’s cloudy and he needs more than the panels produce, he can draw extra from the grid.

Annually, this means big savings. Shipley said his household pays $17 a month for service fees, but saves about $600 annually compared to a traditional electric utility.

The initial cost outlay, if a homeowner chooses to buy the equipment rather than lease it, can be between $5,000 and $10,000, but NYSERDA and other agencies give incentives to help defray the expense.

Shipley said the important thing is to keep the cost in perspective. All of the cost is equipment, not in fuel. “It’s the cost of the system versus what you now pay for electricity,” he said.

With the incentives, Shipley said homeowners should see the system pay for itself in five to 15 years depending on the system.

“People need to think of it in terms of ‘what it costs to can your own tomatoes versus buying them.’ Is it cheaper?” he asked.

The silicon panels are very durable, too, he said. There are no moving parts and they’re designed to take worse weather than we have in the North Country.

“Nobody really knows how long they last,” Shipley said, noting panels first developed in the 1970s are still in use. Manufacturers will provide 20- to 30-year warranties.

Over a long period of time, the panels may not be as efficient as they once were, but he estimates they might only lose about 80 percent of their original power production.

Snow isn’t really much of an issue, either, Shipley said. While it does create shade initially, the panels are slanted and still heat up when it’s sunny out, causing the snow to slide right off.

So why don’t more people have at least some form of solar energy supply? Shipley said the public mind is finally starting to change. In addition to the cost savings, solar energy is also eco-friendly and reduces our dependence on pollution-causing forms of energy.

“It’s difficult to argue a more socially and environmentally responsible form of energy,” he said. People never hear about a solar power spill. But they hear about nuclear disasters in Japan, the Gulf oil spill and coalmining tragedies, not to mention air and ozone quality concerns caused by fossil fuels, he said.

“Solar energy is growing by leaps and bounds,” he said, noting his phone is ringing more and more these days with requests. “We are in the midst of a solar revolution.