First Cheque from Hydro

Capital Solar Power installed 3.25kW Roof-Mounted PV System on Queens Mary Street, Ottawa, on April 2011.  Yesterday, she got her first cheque from Hydro.  Hurray!  When It's Sunny You Make Money!

New Solar power projects approved in Ontario

The OPA recently approved 510 new green energy projects, most of which involve solar power.

Alternative energy advocates are applauding a recent decision by the Ontario Power Authority to approve hundreds of new green energy projects.
The OPA said Wednesday that 510 projects have been approved in 120 communities across the province. Most of the new projects will be solar installations.
Peter Glover, director of marketing for Ottawa Solar Power, said the news is a “huge bonus” to the solar industry.
“It’s opening up the renewable energy technology industry dramatically in Ontario,” Glover said. “What's been a very slow progression of interests and installations is suddenly ballooning.”
The power produced by the new projects will be sold into the grid under the province’s feed-in-tariff program, which pays green energy producers a premium rate for the power they produce.
The program is part of the province’s Green Energy Act, which gained royal assent in May 2009. The province announced the program's regulations in September, and started accepting applications from aspiring power producers in October.
The new projects are the first “larger power generators” to win contracts through the program, the OPA said.
The approved projects range from 10 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts and have a total generating capacity of 112 megawatts — enough energy to power more than 13,000 homes , the OPA said.

'New source of income'

“These projects will create a new source of income while providing new clean and green electricity in Ontario — particularly on hot, sunny summer days when demand soars,” Brad Duguid, the energy and infrastructure minister, said in a statement.
David Eisenbud, a spokesman for the Canadian Solar Industries Association, said he thinks the new projects will give the solar industry a boost and help create jobs in the province.
Among the projects approved was a plan from Loblaw Companies Limited. The OPA approved the grocery retailer's application to put rooftop solar installations on 136 of its stores.
The company plans to start with four trial projects at stores in Orleans, Ajax, Toronto and Whitby.
The OPA is responsible for ensuring the province has enough electricity to meet its needs.

Solar power interest grows in Ontario

Feed-in tariff program pays households for power

 

Soaring energy prices have prompted growing interest in solar power in Ontario, thanks to a provincial government incentive program for homeowners who generate electricity.
Oil prices have climbed by about 33 per cent in just two months, with crude closing above $112 US a barrel, as traders worry about turmoil in the Mideast.
And electricity prices are on the rise, too. Consumers in Ontario will pay more starting next month. Nova Scotia has just announced a nine per cent increase in power rates.
That's prompted interest in the Ontario government's feed-in tariff program, which allows producers of solar power to sell their electricity to a utility. It pays them eight times the usual price for electricity.
Two homeowners taking advantage of the program are Annabel and Peter Reinis, who have installed solar panels on their home in the west end of Toronto at a cost of more than $20,000.
"Ontario Power Generation will pay us 80 cents a kilowatt for the power we put into their system and we still pay the regular bill that we always pay, Peter Reinis told Mike Hornbrook of CBC News. "So it's like a little business on our roof."
That business will pay them from $1,500 to $1,800 a year, and they don't have to do anything but cash the cheques that arrive from the power company.
Last year, Ontario added 200 megawatts of solar power. That's the second highest amount in North America after California.

Solar Manufacturer To Create 300 Jobs In Toronto

McGuinty Government Builds Clean Energy Economy As Province Continues To Turn The Corner

Ontario's shift toward clean, renewable energy is attracting more jobs and investment to the Toronto-area.
Eclipsall Energy Corp. is opening a manufacturing facility in Toronto to make solar panels for Ontario's growing clean energy sector, with plans to expand across the North American market in 2012. The plant is expected to create 100 new jobs by the end of this summer, and an additional 200 jobs by early 2012. The solar panels produced at the plant are expected to generate enough electricity each year to power about 25,000 homes.
Ontario is replacing dirty, coal-fired plants with cleaner sources of renewable energy like water, wind, solar and bio-energy. It's part of the McGuinty government's plan to keep costs down for families today, while building a clean, modern and reliable electricity system for tomorrow.

Ontario's Green Energy Act will create 50,000 clean energy jobs by the end of 2012. Over 13,000 jobs have already been created as a result of Ontario's plan.

Solar perception needs to change

It is a little known fact that Ontario boasts some of the largest solar fields in the world. All across the province solar panels dot the rural landscape and urban rooftops.

It is all in an effort to create more green energy in Ontario. The current goal in Ontario is for solar power to provide up to two per cent of the province's energy supply by 2018, said John Wilkinson, Perth-Wellington MPP and Minister of the Environment at an informal CanSia Community Solar Day hosted by Gaffney Electrical in Mitchell on June 25.
"As a province we are buying into solar energy and production, now we want to get the manufacturing here," he said, adding, "The problem we have right now is that solar – the components of it – is expensive because it is built overseas.
"We need to bring the manufacturing here and in Ontario, that is what we're good at," he said.
Wilkinson added, "We currently have 16,000 people working in renewable energy in Ontario and our goal is to get to 50,000 by then end of 2012."
"Standing up for solar will create jobs in Ontario but we need to get the public perception on side," said Brian Mills, electrician/integrator with Gaffney Electrical.
Mills has a micro fit solar panel on his property outside Mitchell.
"I chose to do it because I believe in it. It's something we have to do," he said.
"Right now there is the misconception that we are going to be paying $0.80 per kilowatt hour for solar energy. Renewable solar will only be two per cent by 2018 of the total. We have to be willing to pay a little bit more initially to get the whole industry up and going here in Ontario," said Wilkinson. "It's not like we're replacing the whole system with solar."
He said what impacting hydro rates right now is the rebuilding of infrastructure.
"We are rebuilding 5,000 kilometres of transmission and rebuilding things like Bruce Nuclear Plant," said Wilkinson, adding the perception that solar and renewables are driving up the costs is inaccurate.

Wilkinson said most of Ontario's power (up to 30 per cent) used to come from coal. "Today we get most of our power from nuclear and wind contributes almost as much as coal," he said.

"Solar represents a smaller portion of our usage, but that will change by 2018," said Wilkinson.

Newly Installed Solar Panel

We just completed an install at South Ottawa and have a look.