FindSolar.caBefore any installer promises what panels will produce on your New Brunswick roof, you can bracket the honest answer yourself. The province's solar resource is better than its weather reputation suggests, the tools for checking any address are free and take minutes, and the promises worth signing are the ones that survive the check.
The planning bracket for New Brunswick
On planning figures, a well-oriented New Brunswick roof produces on the order of 1,100 kWh per installed kilowatt per year, sitting comfortably mid-pack among the provinces: meaningfully below the Prairie peaks, comfortably above the coastal lows. A 5 kW system therefore lands near 5,500 kWh a year and a 10 kW near 11,000 before site specifics, with real addresses spreading around those figures with local climate and horizon. NB Power's own net metering materials are the program-side companion to these numbers, and worth reading alongside them.
What moves your address off the average
The usual suspects, in their usual order. Orientation: south is the benchmark, southeast or southwest costs a few percent, east or west about 15 on planning factors. Shade: the spruce line and the chimney matter more than any provincial average, and deserve a modelled assessment rather than a guess. Local climate: fog-prone coastal stretches and clearer inland valleys differ for real, which is why address-level data beats provincial folklore, north-south latitude being a smaller factor within the province than people assume.
Checking any promise in ten minutes
Divide the quote's annual kWh by its kW and you have its production-per-kilowatt claim; now test it. The satellite mode in our savings calculator pulls PVGIS irradiance for your exact coordinates, and NRCan's photovoltaic potential maps give the federal second opinion. A claim within about ten percent of the independent figures is normal modelling; one 20 percent above them is either a remarkable roof or a remarkable salesperson, and the verification guide shows how to tell which.
Snow, fog and the annual truth
Winter storms, coastal fog and shoulder-season grey are already inside any honest annual estimate, because production models are built from decades of local weather. Individual years will wander a few percent around the model, snow years and clear summers roughly cancelling over time. Judge your system, and every promise about it, on annual numbers; in New Brunswick especially, where the March 31 credit reset makes the annual production-to-consumption balance the number that pays.
Questions homeowners ask
How many kWh will a 1 kW solar array produce in New Brunswick?
On the order of 1,100 kWh per year for a well-oriented roof, as a flagged planning figure, with real addresses spreading around it by orientation, shade and local climate. Address-level tools beat the provincial average: run your coordinates through the satellite mode in our calculator.
How much would a 5 kW or 10 kW system produce per year?
Scaling the planning figure: roughly 5,500 kWh and 11,000 kWh respectively before site adjustments, with well-aimed unshaded roofs beating the bracket and compromised ones trailing it. The per-kilowatt number is the honest comparator between quotes of different sizes.
Does northern New Brunswick produce much less solar than southern New Brunswick?
Less than latitude folklore suggests: within the province, local climate, coastal fog exposure and site conditions move the number more than north-south position does. Check your actual address with satellite data rather than discounting by geography; northern valleys regularly out-produce foggy southern coastline.
How much does an east- or west-facing roof reduce production?
About 15 percent against south on planning factors, with southeast and southwest giving up only a few percent. East-west designs also spread production across morning and evening, which fits household usage patterns well. Orientation adjusts the math; it rarely vetoes the project.
How can I check whether an installer's annual production promise is realistic?
Divide promised annual kWh by system kW, then compare against PVGIS satellite data for your coordinates and NRCan's potential maps. Within about ten percent is modelling variance; far above is a claim that needs a site-specific justification. The verification guide walks the whole routine.
Does snow make the annual production estimate unreliable?
No: honest models are built from decades of local weather, snow included, so winter losses are already inside the annual number. Individual years wander a few percent around the model in both directions. Judge on annual figures, which is also exactly how New Brunswick's credit calendar pays you.