Face of Solar Power: Landon Aldridge

SkyFire Energy's name says it all.

"The sun is the fire in the sky," says SkyFire's Okanagan-based vice-president of operations Landon Aldrige.

"And the sun keeps us in the business of engineering, procuring, selling and installing solar power projects ranging in size from single-family residential to utility scale."

SkyFire has been Western Canada's largest solar contractor since it started in 2001.

While its head office is in Calgary, it has expanded to Edmonton, Regina and the Okanagan.

The Okanagan office is responsible for hundreds of residential and commercial design-build solar panel installations, the solar power systems at the Penticton and Kelowna campuses of Okanagan College and the installations at Canyon Falls Middle School in Kelowna and Westbank First Nation's Sensisyusten elementary school.

"Everybody has a different reason for going solar," says Landon.

"For business, industrial and institutional customers it's usually about reducing operating costs. For some businesses, there is a marketing component. For homeowners, it's the perfect opportunity to reduce or eliminate their electricity bill. And, for everyone, there's usually an equal environmental reason of preserving the planet and showing our kids and grandkids what's possible."

One of the scenarios possible is to have solar panels on the roof to generate electricity to not just power your home or business, but also to charge your electric car, for a whole cycle solution.

By the way, SkyFire also installs electric car charging stations and back-up solar energy storage systems at homes and businesses and is a Tesla contractor for such as well.

An average home in the Okanagan with a south-facing roof to capture the sun can offset its entire electricity bill with a $20,000, 32-panel installation that generates about 10,000 watts of power annually.

The payback for such a system is about 10 years.

"Solar installations are about 80% cheaper now than they were 10 years ago," says Landon.

"The biggest shift has been in the past six years. In fact, it's gone from a niche for people who were off-the-grid to the point where new solar production exceeds all other power sources and more solar is being installed than any other power source in the world."

Part of the acceleration is the BC Energy Step Code aims to make the province Net Zero ready by 2032. Developers, homeowners, businesses and institutions are helping make it a reality by choosing solar for retrofits as well as new construction. "Solar is more affordable and attainable and therefore has become mainstream." sums up Landon.