Solar Power Data for Nova Scotia

The data presented on this website is obtained from several sources:

Solar PV system inverters

An inverter converts DC electricity to AC electricity so that it can be used in a home or business. These days, many inverters also come equipped with data monitoring systems that send data to our database.

Nova Scotia Power meters

For community-owned solar PV systems that are part of the Solar Electricity for Community Buildings program.

Green Power Labs SolarSatData™

A model that predicts output of solar PV systems for today and tomorrow.

The savings were estimated as follows:

1. A set of residential solar power systems was chosen from the database, representative of geographic diversity across the Province.
2. The average solar electricity production for that set of systems on that day is calculated based on the production data. (average kWh savings per household).
3. The average kWh savings is multiplied by the current residential electricity rate ($0.16 / kWh) to obtain the average savings per household for that day ($).

The solar day percentage (%) is calculated as follows:

1. The peak daily electricity production from the selected set of systems is determine for each month by scanning all the years of available data (minimum of 2 years).
2. The % is calculated as the ratio of yesterday, today or tomorrow’s daily production divided by the historical maximum daily production for that month. 

PV (photovoltaic)

Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight and transform it into direct current (DC) electricity.

Inverter

A power electronic device that converts DC electricity to usable alternating current (AC) house electricity. Some solar PV systems will have a micro inverter for each solar panel while others will have one larger string inverter to serve all the solar panels.

kW (kilowatt)

This describes the size of the system in DC. In Nova Scotia, a typical residential solar PV system is about 10 kW DC, but may be smaller or larger depending on available roof space.

kWh (kilowatt-hour)

This describes the amount of energy produced by a solar PV system in a period of time, like a day or a month. It is also the way that your utility will bill you for electricity. Two systems with the same kW rating may produce a different amount of kWh’s per year because of orientation, slope or shading.

kWh/kW (kilowatt-hour per kW)

This is a metric to compare the productivity of solar PV systems. It describes the amount of energy produced by a Solar PV system over one year relative to the DC system size. For example, a 10 kW DC system that produces 1,100 kWh/kW per year, would produce 10 kW x 1,100 kWh/kW = 11,000 kWh per year.

Nicola Di Matteo (left, SunReport), Dane George (center, NSCC AERLab), Bryan Ellis (right, RESL, Dalhousie University) presenting at the EnergyData Workshop in February 2020

Dr. Wayne Groszko (NSCC AERLab) presenting at the EnergyData Workshop in February 2020