Robert Prybysh is ready for a blackout.
His St. Albert home has solar panels on its roof, and they’re hooked to a 11.7 kWh battery in his garage that can run his fridge, Internet, and other essentials for at least a day.
“In the event there is a power outage, we can still have heat in our home and hot water and communications,” he said.
Prybysh is one of the roughly 800 guests expected to attend Solar Alberta’s 2025 Solar Show this Feb. 3-7. Billed as Alberta’s largest virtual solar conference, the show gives guests a chance to learn about the latest developments in renewable energy and how they can apply them at home.
This year’s show features a mix of free and paid sessions aimed at homeowners, farmers, installers, businessowners, and industry, said Solar Alberta executive director Heather MacKenzie.
“There’s a little something for everyone.”
The show will open with a roundtable discussion on the vital role electricians play in the solar industry, MacKenzie said.
“Pretty much all our members are perpetually trying to hire electricians,” she said, as they can’t find enough to keep up with customer demand.
“Some of our members are booking clients eight months out because they can’t keep up with demand.”
While new provincial restrictions have put a damper on utility-scale solar, MacKenzie said demand for residential and commercial solar is stronger than ever because of new federal and provincial tax credits and financing through the Clean Energy Improvement Program. Solar companies report about 1,000 installs a month, compared to just 100 a month five years ago.
Storing the sun
This year’s Solar Show features a free talk on energy storage co-hosted by engineer Gabriel Risbud-Vincent of Solas Energy.
Alberta has about 200 megawatt-hours of energy storage on the grid right now, with several thousand more in the pipeline, said Paula McGarrigle, president of Solas Energy and former St. Albert resident. About half of the utility-scale solar projects being built in this province also incorporate storage.
“Solar and storage is a pretty powerful combination,” McGarrigle said, as it lets you store solar power and sell it when power prices are high, maximizing your profits.
Home-based storage can save you a lot of money in Europe and Ontario, where domestic energy prices fluctuate throughout the day, McGarrigle said. Albertans don’t have such time-of-day pricing, which makes residential storage much less profitable.
McGarrigle said storage can make sense if you’re a business that uses a lot of power, as it can help avoid high prices during peak demand times. Homeowners could consider storage if they need backup power or want to be more self-sufficient.
Prybysh said he got his roughly $20,000 storage system two years ago after he got tired of blackouts. The system gives his family peace of mind and, combined with his rooftop solar, shaves about 30 per cent off his power bills despite them not going all-out on energy conservation.
While utility and commercial-scale storage make sense today, McGarrigle said Alberta would need time-of-day pricing for power before residential energy storage would become popular. Home-based storage would get more affordable as electric vehicles drove down the price of batteries.
Other sessions at this year’s Solar Show will cover net-zero home retrofits, solar on farms, and solar incentives. MacKenzie said conference sessions will be archived for later viewing on the Solar Alberta website. Visit solaralberta.ca/solar-show/2025-solar-show for details.
