Green Sun Rising is southwestern Ontario’s oldest and longest-operating solar technology company, established in January 2008. We have designed, developed, and implemented well over 500 projects to date and continue implementing and servicing existing solar systems throughout Ontario.
We provide the materials and experience for installations of residential and commercial solar PV and solar thermal systems. We also provide off-grid solutions for your cottage, lighting, or vehicle conversion needs.
Our engineering and designs represent best-practices based on decades of solar know-how. We offer premium products and services with intelligent solutions at a competitive market price, and strive to provide the best value and excellent support.
We regularly stay in touch with all of our customers to ensure an excellent experience with us for your solar project.
For the past nine years, we have been traveling to remote communities across Canada to reduce the need for Diesel generators using solar PV systems to generate clean energy on community-owned buildings. To date, we have designed and installed 48 Diesel reduction systems in some of the most remote areas of Canada, including above the tree line in the Arctic. Our projections estimate that our Diesel-reduction systems generate more than 1,100,000 kWh per year, which saves about 330,000 liters of Diesel annually. This results in an annual reduction of over 650,000 kg of carbon-dioxide emissions. We have completed PV systems for Diesel reduction in Nunavik (Northern Québec), Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Labrador, and British Columbia.
A solar PV system has a few key components that allow it to function. They are: the modules (panels), the inverter, the mounting system, wiring, rapid shutdown, and rodent protection.
The solar PV modules, or panels, are equipped with solar cells which take energy from the sun’s rays and convert it to DC (direct current) energy to be passed through wiring toward the inverter.
The solar inverter will then convert the energy from DC (direct current) to AC (alternating current) which will be connected to a meter base at your home or business (either a bi-directional meter which will replace your consumption meter in a net metering system, or a secondary generation meter for Feed-In-Tariff (FIT/Micro-FIT) system).
The mounting system we employ uses only non-corrosive aluminum and stainless-steel non-moving parts, which attaches to your roof trusses (or alternate mounting type/area if required) for secure and stable protection of your home and solar panels. Click here for more information.
All wiring from the modules to the rapid shutdown box and inverter are all code compliant (as is true for all our system parts).
We use rapid shutdown boxes to quickly disable PV generators. They are required by the electrical code and assist to reduce shock hazard for emergency responders. The box is connected directly to the inverter and is mounted conveniently under the module for maximum protection.
Rodent protection is a code requirement for new solar PV systems. We use a fence, like chicken wire, which is attached to the frame of each module as a preventative measure against rodents such as squirrels and birds to take shelter in your system and potentially cause damage to it by chewing the wires or otherwise damaging the panels.
For more information on solar PV systems, please click here.
Yes!
All materials provided by Green Sun Rising are covered by the respective materials manufacturers warranties. There is a 5-year installation craftsmanship warranty and a 10-year warranty on our mounting system (mounts4solar), as long as the installation is done by Green Sun Rising Inc.
There is also a 10-year mechanical warranty on the solar modules (panels) and a 25-year limited electrical performance warranty.
We provide an informational binder after system commissioning with all related warranty information and are always available for assistance as needed.
The availability of solar energy is seasonal. We have the day and night seasonality as well as summer and winter seasonality.
The availability of solar energy varies with the weather and the time of day and the season. When a large, dark cloud comes and covers the sun, then solar power availability drops from 100% down to 15% suddenly.
The further north you are, the more pronounced the seasonality gets. No sunlight in the Arctic in winter and no sunset in the Arctic in summer, that is extreme seasonality. Canada is a northern country, therefore we do have pronounced seasonality.
The goal is to generate enough energy during the spring and summer months in order to cover you during less ideal times, such as in the winter.
All solar calculations are based on averaged and long-term weather data. This is the best predictor we have for solar harvest, but it does not guarantee the projected solar harvest to be exact. We are not able to predict the weather and solar availability weeks, months, or sometimes even a day ahead of time. While the solar calculations are a good predictor of the average generation, the day to day weather changes are anything but average. They can drop down to only fractions of the average expectation on really bad weather days.
There are often cases of people rejecting solar energy in the 2020s because they’ve been informed by a friend, spouse, co-worker, newspaper, magazine, or online about a revolutionary change in solar technology coming soon. Such cases include: solar shingles being the future of solar panels, solar roads paving the way for the future, or solar cells made from Bioluminescent Jellyfish. Although progress and scientific research into growing fields are a good thing, it is too often that one sensationalized article makes headlines around the world before falling into obscurity.
Solar technology available today is proven, reliable, and affordable enough to be a great financial investment for the future. Although speculative and sensational-sounding articles are a fun way to get people interested in solar technology, they do not necessarily become what they were promised or expected to be. Potential does not always translate into innovation. Furthermore, some of the technologies advertised have glaring issues such as long installation times with large crews and maintenance that is anything but convenient and easy-to-do.
Don’t sleep on solar today just because technology will eventually advance in the future. Green Sun Rising works with the latest solar technology available, which is proven to be reliable, with maximum efficiency at the best possible cost for you. If you have any questions regarding what you’ve heard, please inquire with us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions and find the best solar solution for you.
Yes, it is economical to have rooftop solar in Windsor-Essex County.
Solar PV systems are the most cost-effective they have ever been. Solar panel cost has decreased by over 60% in the past decade, but their efficiency and power has increased. When designing and installing your system, everything is done locally by our team and we have streamlined the process to be as practical and efficient as possible in order to save you time and money. We also manufacture our own mounting system, which saves on importing costs and allows parts to always be readily available.
When accounting for future increases in cost of electricity, increased rooftop/shingle protection, a return on investment of approximately 11 years, and an overall increase in property value, now is the best time for homeowners and businesses to invest in solar energy in Windsor-Essex County and in all of Ontario.
To get the best possible solar harvest in the northern hemisphere, PV modules should be facing south, with the next best generation being a tie between east and west. Modules are typically installed on rooftops of your home or garage in a shade-free environment. They can also be integrated into any existing stable structures (such as a carport) as well as attached to a building’s façade, or ballast mount on a flat-roof if the conditions require it.
Presently, if you are lacking property or roof space there is no simple solution to install a residential solar system in Ontario. In the future, however, virtual net-metering will be available. This means that you can invest in community solar systems in order to offset your energy consumption, without utilizing your own space. There is no current projected timeline for when virtual net-metering will be integrated in Ontario, but other places such as Greece, Nelson, B.C. and the state of New York have already implemented vitrual net-metering.
This question depends on the sizing required for your system and is based on your annual energy consumption in kWh. If your local utility is ENWIN, there is a chart on the back of your monthly hydro bill which shows your consumption for the past 12 months. By giving us this data, we can properly size your system in order to give you the best value for your energy needs. Over-sizing a system is not necessarily beneficial to homeowners who are conservative energy users. This is because under net-metering, the energy will be sent back to the grid and the credits accounted for by our system sizing would go unused. The goal of net metering is to offset your energy consumption, not generate more than you use annually.
If you live in Essex, Harrow, Tecumseh, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Kingsville, Amherstburg, or Leamington, Ontario you will likely be serviced by Hydro One, Essex Powerlines, or E.L.K. In that case, finding your annual consumption in kWh may require some math by adding up your last 12 monthly energy bills. You may also be able to contact your local utility for that information but will need your account information with you (available on your energy bill).
If your solar PV system is grid-connected, then the electrical grid does all of the off-setting: it will buffer extra electricity if available and provide power when the solar system is not generating enough. Grid-connections means stability. Grid-connected means that the solar seasonality will be buffered by the grid, and it is enough to look at “annual solar generation” and annual consumption.
In off-grid situations, you are fully exposed to the seasonality and variability of solar availability. Solar PV generation will vary greatly with the seasons and the weather. Off-grid systems require batteries, which are expensive, require regular maintenance, and have limited durability. Storing solar generated electricity in batteries means chemistry. Chemistry means polluting materials, losses going in, losses coming out, degradation, aging, and exposure to temperature extremes. Overall, battery technology is the weak link of off-grid solar systems. It is not practical to store summer surplus electricity for winter usage. We can store daytime electricity for nighttime usage, but only for a very limited number of days. More battery capacity means longer availability of electricity, but also higher price.
Unless you invest substantial amounts of money, you can not go off-grid in Canada, have a lifestyle of using all your appliances at liberty, use electric heat and AC, etc., and expect a reasonably priced solar off-grid system to cover all of your power needs for the whole year. Going off-grid means you need to be energy frugal. You can use electricity only when the conditions are good and you need to understand when it gets tight, you need to be energy literate. Use larger power users during the daytime when the sun is shining. Do not expect to be able to run everything at ease and at will. Unfortunately, that is naïve. Just like a farmer who knows when to till, when to plant, and when to harvest, one needs to understand the solar resource availability as well as the abilities and limitations of your solar system with batteries. You will also need backup power. During the worst parts of winter, when snow and ice cover your solar array and the sun barely rises above the horizon, there is simply not enough solar resource available to power everything. This is when your generator comes in. It can be done, but to be clear, your energy lifestyle must adapt to the availability of the solar resource. You must be as energy efficient and as frugal as possible. You will eventually run out of solar juice and will need to run your generator.
None, if you have a reliable solar partner.
Gone are the days of speculative money entering and leaving the hands of opportunists, capitalizing on the wave of the Canadian Feed-In-Tariff programs (FIT and micro-FIT). There have been solar companies in the news going bankrupt, installing faulty systems, leaving installations incomplete, taking money from customers then disappearing, and being involved with lawsuits. All this negative press has created an undesirable narrative about the solar industry in Canada. Fortunately, the end of Feed-In-Tariff is the beginning of transparency between solar businesses and perspective customers.
Today, remaining solar companies such as ourselves install systems because it is a trade in which we take satisfaction being a part of. Aside from the numerous environmental benefits and preparing for future energy standards, we enable homeowners to really own their energy. We ensure their system is running as it should immediately after installation, but also monitor data to confirm it always performs optimally year-round. Furthermore, we service existing systems left behind by other companies in Windsor-Essex County and all of southwestern Ontario.
Green Sun Rising is the oldest solar energy company in southwestern Ontario and has been in business for well over a decade, before the Green Energy Act and FIT programs. We have no plans or desire to stop in the foreseeable future.
For questions and inquiries, you can contact us through our contact page, by phone at 519-946-0408, or email us at info@greensunrising.com.