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BC's Best Communities for Rooftop Solar Investment

BC Hydro's Net Metering program lets residential solar owners sell surplus electricity back to the grid. The economics are strongest where sunshine hours are highest — which in BC means the Interior, not the rainy coast. These communities rank highest on solar resource within British Columbia.

Scope: British Columbia Communities ranked: ~183 BC FSAs Showing: Top 20 in BC Data: ECCC Climate Normals 1991–2020
Interior vs coast: The Okanagan Valley receives over 2,000 sunshine hours annually — comparable to parts of southern Ontario and significantly above Metro Vancouver's 1,900 hours. Kelowna, Penticton, and Kamloops consistently lead BC solar resource rankings. Victoria, surprisingly, outperforms Vancouver on sunshine despite being on the coast — the Olympic rain shadow gives it meaningfully more sun than the Lower Mainland.
# Community Sunshine hrs/yr
1 PentictonBC 2,300 hrs/yr
2 Okanagan Mission / Kelowna SouthBC 2,290 hrs/yr
3 Lake Country / Kelowna EastBC 2,280 hrs/yr
4 West Kelowna South / WestbankBC 2,270 hrs/yr
5 Kelowna — DowntownBC 2,260 hrs/yr
6 Kelowna - SouthBC 2,250 hrs/yr
7 Victoria - GonzalesBC 2,210 hrs/yr
8 Saanich - Cordova BayBC 2,210 hrs/yr
9 Kamloops - NorthBC 2,210 hrs/yr
10 Kamloops - SouthBC 2,210 hrs/yr
11 Kamloops - EastBC 2,210 hrs/yr
12 Kamloops - WestBC 2,210 hrs/yr
13 Victoria - FairfieldBC 2,200 hrs/yr
14 Parksville / Qualicum BeachBC 2,200 hrs/yr
15 Kelowna - NorthBC 2,200 hrs/yr
16 Kelowna - CentralBC 2,200 hrs/yr
17 Keremeos / South Okanagan RuralBC 2,200 hrs/yr
18 Kamloops SouthBC 2,200 hrs/yr
19 Victoria — DowntownBC 2,193 hrs/yr
20 Victoria - Fort StreetBC 2,193 hrs/yr

Annual sunshine hours from ECCC Climate Normals 1991–2020. Solar output also depends on roof pitch, orientation, shading, and local microclimate. BC Hydro Net Metering program available for systems up to 100 kW. Consult a qualified solar installer for site-specific analysis. Source: ECCC open government licence.