To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the City of Victoria has joined with other cities across the globe in starting a transition to renewable energy. This process will be gradual and take many years. Solar energy has a role to play. Today, large-scale solar power projects are being built to deliver electricity at less than 8c/kWh. While residential and commercial building based solar projects in Victoria don’t currently produce electricity at these rates, it is anticipated that grid parity – a state where rooftop generated solar electricity can be generated at the same cost as purchasing from the BC Hydro grid - will occur in the near future. In the meantime, solar panels can be an attractive option for those wishing to generate their own clean renewable power.

If saving energy or reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a priority, then for the majority of building and home owners simple steps such as air sealing and additional insulation are going to be the most cost-effective first steps.

This website is built in support of the City of Victoria’s renewable energy goal and to inform citizens of their building’s potential to generate electricity from solar energy. The development of the site was led by the City of Victoria and built in collaboration with several organizations including the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia and with funding support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), BC Hydro and the City of Victoria Climate Action Reserve Fund.