Solar energy across Nova Scotia

Snapshot of solar energy across Nova Scotia

Solar is working in Nova Scotia, and Applied Energy Research and partners launched a website to prove it. Spearheaded by NSCC, SolarDataNS.ca collects data on solar electricity generation from solar arrays across the province and makes this information available for research and public education.

“Data is updated in real time and shows the daily estimated solar electricity production and amount saved for an average home in Nova Scotia,” says Data Specialist Yeonha Park. “It provides individuals with information that helps them determine if the investment of installing solar makes sense.”

Turns out, Nova Scotia is a surprisingly sunny province. The electricity generated from the 1,350 Nova Scotia solar installations over the past year has saved the equivalent of 8,484 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

NSCC’s Dr. Wayne Groszko, Energy Research scientist, anticipates these results will help drive future innovation and encourage more Nova Scotians to see the value of solar in our region.

“Our hope is that this data will show that solar is worth the investment and that we’ll continue to see an increase in solar installations across the province,” he says. “From a research perspective, these analytics will improve forecasting capabilities for solar in Nova Scotia.”

Student involvement

Data Analytics grad Youngjoon Son was employed by NSCC Applied Research during his studies and for a period afterward. During this time, Youngjoon analyzed hundreds of solar datasets to help get the website up and running.

Energy engineer and project lead, Dane George, was impressed with Youngjoon’s work.

“It was neat to see an NSCC student skilfully take on a wide variety of tasks. Youngjoon established the foundations of the project, including building the database structure and populating it with its first solar electricity datasets. He’s really talented.”

Youngjoon believes this experience helped land him his current job at IBM.

“Being part of a real, collaborative industry project enhanced the skillset I was learning in class and offered an opportunity to network and showcase my abilities. Working with Applied Research on SolarDataNS.ca gave me what I needed to succeed.”