Solar panel installation in Richmond starts with an advantage most of the Lower Mainland does not have: flat land and open sky. There are no mountains to the south to cast a shadow, so a well oriented Richmond roof sees the sun from early morning to evening. We design around that, and around the wind and salt air that come with living on the delta.
One of our recent Richmond projects is the large home in the photo, an array across a metal roof on a big lot with a tennis court beside it. Metal roofs like this one are among the best surfaces we can work on, because the racking clamps to the seams and needs no penetrations at all.
Big Richmond lots often have more roof than the electrical service can use, so on jobs like this the design is set by consumption and panel capacity, not by how many panels will physically fit.
The other photos are nearby coastal installs, in Crescent Beach and on Bowen Island, with the same salt air exposure as much of Richmond.
Richmond is a mix of large detached homes, townhouses, business parks and farmland, and a lot of it is agricultural.
With no terrain shading, the main things we design around in Richmond are roof orientation, neighbouring trees and houses, and the electrical service. Microinverters keep one shaded panel from dragging down the rest.
Residential solarAbout 39% of Richmond sits in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Barns, greenhouses support buildings and packing sheds often have long, simple roofs that suit solar well, and farm corporations can use the business incentives below.
Commercial solarStorms off the Strait of Georgia bring down lines across the Lower Mainland. A hybrid system with a battery keeps the fridge, heat and internet running when the grid drops, and stores your daytime surplus for the evening.
Battery storageRichmond is surrounded by water and open to the wind off it. We fasten racking into the rafters with flashed lag bolts, never with deck screws into the plywood, because in a strong wind an array acts like a sail. Coastal installs get hardware rated for salt spray.
Unlike Vancouver and the North Shore, Richmond does not issue its own electrical permits. The electrical permit for a Richmond solar system comes from Technical Safety BC, and we take care of the application and inspection.
Richmond sits at an average of about one metre above sea level behind 49 km of dikes. For solar that means open horizons and even sun, and it is one more reason homeowners here ask about battery backup for storm season.
The weather station at YVR, on Sea Island, records around 1,189 mm of precipitation a year, roughly half of what falls on North Vancouver. Richmond is one of the drier, brighter places in Metro Vancouver to put panels.
Richmond homeowners can claim the BC Hydro rebate, $1,000 per kW of solar up to $5,000 and $500 per kWh of battery storage up to $5,000 with Peak Saver enrolment, each capped at 50% of the installed cost.
Farm and business owners set up as taxable Canadian corporations can add the 30% refundable clean technology investment tax credit and a 100% first year write off on Class 43.1 equipment. We explained how farms have stacked incentives in our agribusiness article.
Current incentivesWe start from your BC Hydro consumption and a satellite and site review of the roof. You get a 3D design and projected generation, then a formal statement of work. Installation usually takes one to three days, followed by the Technical Safety BC inspection and BC Hydro interconnection.
Our 5-step approachThe questions Richmond homeowners and farm owners ask us most.
Technical Safety BC. Richmond handles some permits itself, but electrical permits for a solar installation go through Technical Safety BC. We file it and arrange the inspection.
Not when the system is built for it. We fasten into the roof rafters rather than the deck, which handles wind uplift far better, and we use hardware rated for coastal salt spray on exposed sites.
Farm businesses that are taxable Canadian corporations can claim the 30% refundable clean technology investment tax credit and a 100% first year write off on eligible solar equipment. Farm homes can also claim the BC Hydro residential rebate.
It is one of the better ones in Metro Vancouver. The land is flat with no mountain shading, and it gets about half the rain North Vancouver does, based on the YVR weather station on Sea Island.
Surplus exported to the grid is credited at 10 cents per kWh every billing cycle under BC Hydro self generation service. Power you use directly offsets 11.87 to 14.08 cents, so a battery that stores the afternoon surplus for the evening is worth more than exporting it.
Yes. Hybrid controllers such as the EG4 GridBOSS have AC coupling ports that bring an existing solar array into a new battery system, so a system installed today can take storage later.
Richmond sits between Vancouver, Delta and the river. These nearby cities have their own pages.
Call 604 817 6527 or send a request. Homes, farms and businesses across Richmond.