BusShelters.ca solar shelters use 120–340 W monocrystalline panels (mono-Si, 21–22% efficiency) sized to the latitude of the install site. A Toronto shelter at 43.6° N sees roughly 3.6 peak sun hours in December; a Yellowknife shelter at 62.5° N sees 0.8 hours and gets a 2.5× panel oversize plus a heated battery enclosure. Battery capacity ranges from 100 Ah to 400 Ah at 12 V or 24 V, with 3–5 days of autonomy at the design-load duty cycle.
The lighting load is a 4000K LED array drawing 8–18 W with a PIR motion sensor that lifts to full brightness when a rider approaches and dims to 20% standby otherwise. USB-C ports (5 V / 3 A) and Qi wireless pads are optional. Real-time arrival displays use e-paper (BWR, 0.5 W average draw) rather than backlit LCD to keep duty-cycle inside the solar budget.
The structure carries the same NBCC 2020 stamp as a standard shelter — snow load Ss, wind load q1/50, footings to local frost depth — plus a roof reinforcement to support the panel weight (18–28 kg per panel). Charge controllers are MPPT with Bluetooth telemetry; we ship a 5-year battery warranty and 25-year panel warranty. Solar shelters are deployed across Indigenous Services Canada community contracts, TransLink rural feeder routes, and Saskatchewan municipal procurements where prairie sun makes payback under 6 years.
Installation, monitoring, and warranty
Solar shelter installation is 3–5 working days including PV mounting, battery commissioning, and remote-telemetry setup. Crews are licensed Master Electricians in the destination province (Red Seal Construction Electrician 309A in ON, Sceau Rouge équivalent in QC). Once installed, every shelter reports state-of-charge, panel output, load history, and ambient temperature to our hosted dashboard by default — free for the first year, $120/year per shelter thereafter, or self-host the open-source agent for free. Warranty is 25 years on PV panels (linear power output), 5 years on the LiFePO₄ battery (80% capacity retention), 3 years on the charge controller, 10 years on the structure, and 2 years on lighting and electronics. Maintenance is minimal — annual panel cleaning and bi-annual battery state-of-health check — typically $200–$400 per shelter per year.
> Key Takeaway: Climate-rated, AODA-compliant, and stamped-engineered for Canadian transit deployment — full procurement documentation included.