Methodology
Calculation steps and source limits.
Every numeric result is tied to a sourced annual resource factor, a user input, and a visible planning assumption.
Reviewed 2026-07-14Data
The municipal screen uses Natural Resources Canada photovoltaic potential and insolation data, resource f3a64330-d3b9-47f2-9bb0-34e2062b7230, south-facing at latitude tilt, with 1974 to 1993 climatology coverage. The Open Government metadata record was modified 2024-02-15; that date does not extend the measurement period. The record was retrieved 2026-07-14 under the Open Government Licence - Canada.
The source unit is kWh/kWp/year. The screening arithmetic treats kWp as nominal installed DC capacity in kWdc.
Validation
Bounds are annual use 10,000 to 100,000,000 kWh, roof area 100 to 1,000,000 m², rate CAD 0.01 to 1/kWh, cost CAD 0.5 to 10/Wdc, and adjustment CAD 0 to 100,000,000.
Explorer safety bounds are computational guardrails, not market defaults: total installed cost and ITC basis up to CAD 10,000,000,000, annual O&M up to CAD 100,000,000, storage power up to 1,000,000 kW, storage energy up to 10,000,000 kWh, event duration up to 720 hours, energy rates up to CAD 10,000/kWh, demand charge up to CAD 100,000/kW-month, target and observed peaks up to 1,000,000 kW, target solar capacity up to 1,000,000 kWdc, and cycles up to 3,660 per year.
Missing, invalid, extreme, unknown municipality, stale, unavailable, and excessive-adjustment states suppress results.
Solar formulas
Roof capacity = usable roof area ÷ 6 m²/kWdc. Load-matched capacity = annual load ÷ (annual PV potential × 90%). Modeled capacity is the lower of the entered target, roof, and load-matched capacity bounds that are available. Annual generation uses an 80 to 90% planning derate. Annual energy value method: Explicit export scenario: import portion = annual generation × (1 − export share) × entered import value; export portion = annual generation × export share × entered export credit; total annual energy value = import portion + export portion. Without complete export inputs or an explicit all-self-consumed confirmation, annual energy value remains suppressed. Annual matching does not establish interval self-consumption, coincidence, tariff ratchets, or future rates. Gross simple payback = modeled installed cost ÷ annual energy value. Net simple payback = modeled installed cost ÷ (annual energy value − entered annual O&M).
Explorer calculation contract
Modeled capacity is the lower of the entered target, roof, and load-matched capacity bounds that are available. Roof capacity = usable roof area ÷ 6 m²/kWdc.
Annual generation method: annual generation uses 80% to 90% of the reviewed municipal annual resource value.
Annual energy value method: Explicit export scenario: import portion = annual generation × (1 − export share) × entered import value; export portion = annual generation × export share × entered export credit; total annual energy value = import portion + export portion. Without complete export inputs or an explicit all-self-consumed confirmation, annual energy value remains suppressed. Annual matching does not establish interval self-consumption, coincidence, tariff ratchets, or future rates.
Simple payback method: low cost divided by high annual benefit gives the low boundary, and high cost divided by low annual benefit gives the high boundary. Entered O&M is deducted from annual benefit.
Clean Technology ITC method: entered eligible basis less entered assistance, multiplied by the applicable official rate.
Capital cost allowance method: the screened deduction follows the selected ITC and UCC treatment and entered tax rate.
Storage bound method: peak clipping is limited by power, discharged energy over the event, entered target, and observed peak. Per-cycle value subtracts full charged-energy cost from discharged-energy value.
Cash-flow method: the 25-year chart discounts the midpoint of each visible user-defined range. Payback preserves a reached boundary and a not-reached boundary when only part of the range crosses within the horizon.
Optional economics screens
Gross simple payback uses modeled installed cost after the explicit verified adjustment divided by annual energy value when O&M is absent.
When O&M is entered, net simple payback deducts the entered O&M range from annual energy value before dividing.
Export compensation, storage demand-charge value, Clean Technology ITC and CCA tax screens, electricity-value escalation, and O&M are modeled only when their explicit inputs and evidence gates are complete.
Financing, unentered values, storage degradation, dispatch optimization, and backup runtime remain excluded.
Storage suppression
Annual savings require interval load profile, interval solar profile, tariff demand structure, and a dispatch objective.
Authority-guide evidence
Economics, province, and technology guides carry a unique intent, a direct answer, section-level source references, a verified date, and explicit suppression records.
Numeric tax, tariff, capacity, date, and eligibility claims remain tied to the typed source register. A missing project basis, customer tariff, interval profile, or local code decision suppresses the affected result.
Model date
Model date 2026-07-14. Submit source corrections through the local correction-note route.