Off-Grid & Remote Solar Power in BC

For cabins, islands and acreage where the grid is unreliable, unavailable, or eye-wateringly expensive to extend. We design standalone solar-plus-storage systems that run a property independently through a coastal BC year — including the part of it that matters, which is winter.

Freedom has a different math

An off-grid property has no BC Hydro connection, so the grid rebates and Rate Schedule 2289 do not apply. Instead of chasing incentives you are buying autonomy: no utility bill, no outages, no line to maintain, and no exposure to future rate increases.

That trade is worth doing deliberately rather than by default. If a distribution line is close, connecting and adding grid-tied solar usually wins, because BC Hydro’s rebates and the ability to export are real money. Off-grid earns its keep when the extension quote is large enough to fund most of a system outright. We walk through both sides in off-grid vs a BC Hydro line extension.

We size for December, not July

This is the whole discipline of off-grid design on the coast. A grid-tied system is sized against your annual consumption, because a strong summer banks against a weak winter. Off-grid there is no bank — whatever the array makes this week is what you have this week.

So we size the array and battery against the darkest, wettest stretch of the year and then confirm the rest follows. In July the system will make more than you can use and throttle back; that surplus is the price of not running a generator in January. The method is set out in sizing an off-grid solar system for a BC winter.

What is in the system

  • High-efficiency panels, roof or ground-mounted, oriented for winter sun rather than annual yield.
  • Hybrid inverter/charger sized for real starting loads — well pumps and compressors, not just average draw.
  • Lithium battery bank sized for days of autonomy, sited somewhere that stays above freezing and can actually be serviced.
  • Automatic generator start to cover the genuinely bad stretches, so the bank does not have to be big enough to never need one.
  • Remote monitoring so you can check state of charge and generator hours from your phone before you drive up.

How we choose between chemistries, and how the generator is specified, is covered in batteries and generators for an off-grid BC property.

Rebates, PST and what actually applies

Off-grid properties are not eligible for BC Hydro’s solar or battery rebates — the programme requires a BC Hydro residential account and a connection to the distribution system, and an off-grid property has neither.

The provincial PST exemption is a different matter and does still apply: panels, wiring, controllers and inverters come through exempt when bought as part of a system. Batteries do not — they are explicitly excluded and remain taxable. Any quote showing an entire off-grid system as tax-free is wrong. Full detail, with sources, in off-grid rebates and taxes in BC.

Where we build off-grid

  • Gulf Islands & Sunshine Coast cabins
  • Sea-to-Sky & backcountry properties
  • Rural acreage far from the nearest line
  • New builds avoiding a five-figure grid extension

Seasonal or full-time?

A property closed from November to March is a much easier — and much cheaper — system than one occupied through December, because the hardest weeks of the year drop out of the design. Be honest about which you are building for. A system sized for a summer cabin disappoints badly if the use pattern later becomes full-time, and adding array and battery afterwards costs more than building it in.

Tell us about the property

Send us the location, the loads you need to run, how you use the place through the year, and whether propane or wood is available for heat and hot water. We will model a system that keeps the lights on independently, and give you the numbers to hold up against a BC Hydro extension estimate.

Get an off-grid design →

The off-grid guides

We have written the off-grid side of what we do out in full, so you can check our reasoning before you talk to us.