New housing projects in Vernon will need to be solar ready

Jul 18, 2023 | 2:07 PM

The City of Vernon will be requiring new housing builds to be prepared for the installation of solar panels.

At the regular meeting April 11, council tasked staff with investigating having all new single-family homes being built with infrastructure to accommodate future installation of solar power systems.

Staff reported back to council Monday, July 17, with amended building bylaws to accommodate the requirements.

In the re-written bylaw, it stated building permit applications for residential projects containing one dwelling unit, or one dwelling unit and one secondary suite, “must contain design considerations for future use of solar photovoltaic or solar domestic hot water systems,” unless it is shows that the “building site conditions do not permit the effective use of solar photovoltaic or solar domestic hot water systems” to the satisfaction of the building official.

Solar photovoltaic (Solar PV) systems convert direct sunlight into electricity, while Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) systems use the sun’s radiation to heat water.

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Under the new bylaw, there will need to be an area on the roof left unobstructed for the installation of solar panels, tubing extending from the roof through the house for the conduits to run; and wall space allocated for the installation of control and connection hardware.

Specifically for the SDHW systems, there will be a requirement to have a clearance height of 182.9 centimetres in the mechanical room for the installation of a storage tank.

In both cases, there is a recommendation for the roof pitch, but those are not requirements.

The report noted roof structures should be designed to support the additional loads associated with solar systems.

Council voted unanimously in favour of the amendments to the building bylaw without discussion Monday.

Following the meeting, Acting Mayor Akbal Mund told Vernon Matters making these building requirements is important as it raises awareness of the possibilities associated with solar.

“It’s no different from recycling. Look where recycling’s come in the last five years, and half our garbage doesn’t go in the garbage anymore,” Mund stated.

“So does that mean we’ll save on utilities in the next 10 years? That could be a big thing. As we all know, 10 years from now, the prediction is 50 per cent of the vehicles on the road are going to be electric. So it’s something to look forward to, that’s for sure.”

The report stated the cost to make a home solar ready during the construction processes can range from $150 to $300 for a Solar PV system and from $300 to $500 for the SDHW system.

The retrofitting costs were not included in the report, but Mund stated the process would be much more expensive.

“If you’ve built it in, all you’re doing is running a conduit,” Mund stated, noting that, while he’s not a builder, retrofitting would require a lot more work and be much more expensive.

by Liam Verster

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