Generate Your Own Electricity with Solar
Grid-tied and off-grid solar PV systems designed around your home, property, electricity use and long-term energy goals.
GET A SOLAR QUOTETurn sunlight into lower electricity costs.
Nova Scotia receives enough solar resource to make photovoltaic generation a practical option for many homes and properties. A properly designed PV system can produce electricity for your home during the day and, with a grid-connected system, reduce the amount of electricity you need to purchase from Nova Scotia Power over the course of the year.
Nova Scotia Power's standard residential energy charge is 19.128¢ per kWh as of May 1, 2026, in addition to the monthly base charge. Solar does not eliminate the fixed base charge, but the electricity your system produces can offset purchased energy and reduce the variable portion of your bill.
- Reduce purchased electricity
- Produce clean renewable energy
- Reduce exposure to future rate increases
- Increase energy independence
- Monitor system production
- Potentially pair with battery storage
Grid-tied or off-grid — we design around the property.
Different properties need different energy strategies. We can help determine whether a grid-connected PV system or an off-grid system is the better fit.
Grid-Tied Solar
A grid-tied system works alongside your Nova Scotia Power service. Your solar array supplies electricity to the property, while the grid remains available when your solar production is lower than your demand.
Under Nova Scotia Power's current Self-Generating Option, eligible systems up to 27 kW can share the property's meter. Electricity generated in excess of your immediate use can be banked and applied to electricity drawn from the grid during the year, subject to the program's rules.
Plan a grid-tied system →Off-Grid Solar
Off-grid systems are designed for properties where a utility connection is unavailable, impractical or where greater energy independence is the primary objective.
An off-grid system normally combines solar PV, batteries, an inverter/charger and carefully planned load management. A generator can also be incorporated where extended periods of low solar production require additional backup capacity.
Explore off-grid solar →How solar can pay for itself
The financial return from solar comes primarily from electricity you no longer need to purchase from the utility. The exact return depends on system price, annual production, your electricity consumption, roof or ground-mount conditions and how much of the solar generation can be used or credited.
1. Your system produces energy
Solar PV generates electricity whenever there is usable sunlight. Nova Scotia solar production is seasonal, with substantially more generation during the longer summer days and less during winter.
2. You use solar first
Electricity produced while your home is using power can directly reduce electricity that would otherwise be purchased from the grid.
3. Surplus can be credited
For eligible grid-connected customers, surplus generation can be banked and used to offset electricity drawn from the grid under Nova Scotia Power's Self-Generating Option.
4. Your investment earns back over time
Each dollar of avoided electricity cost contributes to recovering the original installation cost. Once the system has recovered its installed cost, future energy savings can represent a significant long-term financial benefit.
What the numbers can look like
Solar production varies by location, roof orientation, tilt, shading, equipment and weather. A Nova Scotia government solar study measured approximately 1,100–1,140 kWh of annual PV production per installed kW at the systems studied. NRCan's current PV potential mapping also shows that expected production varies by location and array orientation.
For illustration only, an 8 kW system producing approximately 8,800 kWh per year would represent about $1,683 per year of energy at 19.128¢/kWh if all of that generation effectively offsets energy purchased at the standard residential energy rate.
If such a system cost $22,800 installed, that simplified first-year energy savings would equal about a 7.3% simple return, with a simple payback of roughly 13 years. This is not a quote or guaranteed return: actual project economics can be materially different.
Annual solar savings ÷ installed system cost
Simple payback ≈ installed cost ÷ first-year savings.
Illustrative example only. Actual production, utility billing, system pricing, financing, maintenance, degradation and future electricity rates all affect the result.
Good solar design starts with the property.
Roof orientation & shading
South-facing arrays can perform very well, but east, west and other orientations can also be viable. Trees, chimneys and nearby buildings can affect production.
Electricity consumption
The best system size is based on your actual and expected electricity use. A home with heat pumps, an EV or electric water heating may have a very different load profile than a smaller household.
System size
Oversizing a system beyond the property's useful annual consumption can reduce the financial efficiency of the investment. We size systems around the project's goals and applicable utility rules.
Financing & project cost
Interest, financing terms, roof work, electrical upgrades, equipment selection and site conditions can all change the total project cost and payback period.
Future electricity rates
If utility electricity becomes more expensive, each kilowatt-hour produced by your solar system can become more valuable. Future rates are not guaranteed, so projections should be treated as scenarios.
Battery storage
Battery storage can shift solar energy for later use and can provide backup capability when designed with the required isolation and transfer equipment.
Designed for Nova Scotia conditions.
We evaluate the property, electrical service, roof or ground-mount options, shading, expected electricity consumption and project goals before recommending a system.
- Grid-tied PV system design
- Off-grid solar and battery systems
- Roof and ground-mount options
- Electrical service assessment
- Monitoring and system commissioning
- Solar integrated with backup power
For grid-connected projects, the installation must meet the applicable Nova Scotia Power interconnection and electrical inspection requirements. We coordinate the electrical side of the project and explain the process before work begins.
START YOUR SOLAR PROJECTSolar savings are property-specific.
Solar production and financial performance cannot be guaranteed. The examples on this page are illustrative calculations using the Nova Scotia Power standard residential energy rate effective May 1, 2026 and representative Nova Scotia PV production information. They do not account for HST, financing costs, maintenance, equipment replacement, degradation, changes in electricity rates, changes to utility programs or the customer's actual load profile.
Eligibility for Nova Scotia Power's Self-Generating Option, Commercial Net Metering or other programs depends on the project and applicable rules at the time of installation. Program requirements can change. A project-specific proposal should be based on the property's actual electricity history and a site-specific solar production assessment.
Find out what solar could do for your power bill.
Send us your property location and recent electricity usage and we'll help determine whether solar is a good fit.