Solar panels in Yellowknife, NT

Roofs in Yellowknife get about 937 hours of usable sunlight a year — less than 93% of the cities we've measured. Here's what that means in cost, savings and payback, using real rooftop data rather than a national average.

Check your specific roof in Yellowknife → City averages are a starting point; your own roof's size, pitch and shading change the answer a lot.

What a typical Yellowknife solar system costs

A 34-panel system (13.6 kW) is about right for an average Yellowknife home using 10,800 kWh a year. It would produce roughly 10,832 kWh annually and offset 100% of that usage.

How we worked this out for Yellowknife

Every number on this page comes from these seven steps. Nothing is a national average — the sunlight figure is NASA satellite data for Yellowknife itself.

Step 6 matters more than it looks. Only 35% of what a system this size produces in Yellowknife is used the moment it is generated; the other 7,052 kWh is exported and credited one-for-one under net metering. Because exports here are credited at or near retail, that split changes the payback very little — 22.4 years against the 22.4 we show. In places where exports pay a fraction of retail the same split moves payback by years, which is why we model it explicitly rather than assuming.

Assumptions: 400W panels, 15% system losses (inverter, wiring, heat, soiling), CA$2.85/W installed, 10,800 kWh typical annual household use, 16.0¢/kWh electricity. Change any of those and every figure above moves — which is exactly why a single national "solar costs X" number is misleading.

Notice that payback barely improves as systems get bigger, and eventually gets worse. That's because you can only save money on electricity you were going to buy anyway. Once a system covers your usage, extra panels mostly generate exports at a much lower rate.

Why Yellowknife gets 937 sun hours

That figure comes from 25 years of NASA satellite measurements of sunlight reaching the ground in Yellowknife (2001–2025). It is the energy a panel actually receives, which is why it's lower than the raw "hours of daylight" figures you'll see elsewhere, and we take 8% off for a typical roof's mix of direction and shade. A flat, completely open surface in Yellowknife gets about 1,019 hours.

The numbers behind this page

When Yellowknife actually produces

Annual totals hide the thing that catches people out: 50% of Yellowknife's yearly sunlight arrives in May–July, and just 3% across November–January.

That is a severe seasonal swing — Yellowknife produces roughly 33.0× as much in Jun as in Dec. A system sized to cover your annual usage will overproduce badly in summer and fall well short in winter, so how your utility credits exported power matters more here than in most places.

The annual total comes from NASA POWER satellite data (2001–2025 average). Its split across months is calculated from solar geometry at Yellowknife's latitude, not separately measured, so treat the monthly figures as the shape of a typical year rather than a forecast.

Cities with almost the same sunlight

These are the closest matches to Yellowknife's 937 usable sun hours from other states and provinces. Same sunlight, different electricity prices — which is usually what decides whether solar is worth it.

Nearby cities

Yellowknife solar questions

Worth reading before you buy

Estimates only, generated 2026-08-22 from NASA POWER sunlight data and average NT electricity rates. Not a quote and not financial advice. Your roof, usage, utility plan and local incentives will change these numbers — get real quotes before buying.