BC Hydro rates rose 3.75% in 2025 and another 3.75% this April, and cooling is one of a winery's biggest power draws. It's also the one input cost you can fix: power from your own roof for 25 years, with grants and tax credits covering more than half the setup. Worked examples below at 50 kW, 200 kW and with battery storage.
BC Hydro commercial rates rose 3.75% in April 2025 and another 3.75% in April 2026. Slide to your current monthly bill and see where the compounding takes it if increases continue at a similar pace.
About 110 panels. Fits on a mid-size roof.
Large roof, solar carport, ground mount or a combination.
All figures are estimates based on typical B.C. installed costs, mid-range production (the Okanagan does better), current rates and general corporate tax treatment. The 50 kW savings figure assumes roughly 85% of generation is consumed on-site at ~15¢/kWh and 15% is exported at ~10¢/kWh under the self-generation rate. Your site and BC Hydro's review determine the real numbers. That's what the free assessment establishes.
Solar is worth the most when you use the power yourself, the moment it's generated. Glycol chilling, tank cooling, bottling lines, walk-in coolers and tasting-room HVAC all draw hardest during daylight hours, the exact window your panels produce. That's the difference between a good solar candidate and a great one.
Cooling and production demand peaks with the sun, so most generation is consumed on-site at ~15¢/kWh grid value.
Kelowna, Penticton and Osoyoos see some of B.C.'s highest solar yields: the same sun that ripens grapes powers the crush.
Peak production season (spring–fall) lines up with crush, cooling loads and tasting-room traffic. Excess earns a flat ~10¢/kWh credit.
Estate-grown, solar-powered wine and beer is a story visitors and export buyers respond to.
For a winery or brewery, an outage during crush or fermentation isn't an inconvenience, it's inventory risk. Refrigeration, glycol chilling, cold storage and irrigation pumps are the loads most vulnerable to interruptions, and they're exactly what a battery keeps running. In the estimated participating-project scenario below, BC Hydro covers most of the battery cost in exchange for limited access to it.
Participating-project scenario with BC Hydro's Energy Storage Incentive.
In this scenario, the customer signs a 10-year agreement allowing BC Hydro to draw on the battery during busy periods: a maximum of two dispatches per day, up to four hours each. The building keeps operating during dispatch, subject to system design and available capacity.
In plain terms: BC Hydro pays for most of your battery, and in exchange it gets to borrow it sometimes. You keep the backup capability and the demand-management savings.
These are preliminary screening estimates, not quotations or tax advice. The worked examples use: installed cost of $2.00/W (50 kW) and $1.85/W (200 kW); annual production of 1,150 kWh per installed kW; electricity value of 15¢/kWh at the smaller site and 12¢/kWh at the larger site; 3% annual electricity-price escalation; 0.5% annual panel degradation; a 25-year analysis period; a 27% corporate tax rate; and the federal Clean Technology ITC at 30% of eligible cost after applicable assistance, subject to eligibility. Actual results depend on roof condition, shading, interconnection, load shape, tax position and BC Hydro approval.
A useful solar answer starts with your BC Hydro bills and your site, not a generic quote. The free assessment reviews your rate schedule and load profile, winery/brewery roof space or ground-mount options, cooler and production equipment loads, and which incentives your corporate structure qualifies for. You get your version of the numbers above before anyone designs anything.
60 seconds. A solar advisor maps the incentive stack to your site and comes back with your estimated cost, payback and savings.