Canada needs more clean power to meet growing demand, while aiming for net-zero emissions to fight climate change.
Many Canadians want to install rooftop solar panels to help. But while that can lower their electricity bills, they can’t actually get paid for it — because many jurisdictions limit the power generation of a rooftop solar system to the amount you consume, and customers can only be compensated in bill credits, not cash.
Hydro-Quebec puts it this way: “The customer’s goal must be self-sufficiency and not sales.”
Darren Chu, managing director of Calgary-based Utility Network and Partners, says similar rules in Alberta are frustrating.
“We have lots of customers who come to us and say, ‘Well, I have all this roof space and I’m only allowed to cover a small portion of it with solar panels because that’s all my consumption will allow me to do. How come I’m not allowed to export more?’” he said.
Works in Ontario. A friend of mine generates 2x to 4x more power than he uses. He had a 10k kW solar roof put in, it faces south, and the pitch of his roof was actually optimized for power output in the winter. His heat is propane, which isn’t optimal from an environmental aspect, but it’s modern and otherwise power-efficient.
And he gets paid for it? A lot of times you end up giving power away for free.
Ontario had a program called micro FIT (feed in tariff) to encourage people to generate electricity. It paid higher than the going rate for electricity and was a really good deal if you could install solar. I think it was capped at 10 kW systems, but wasn’t dependent on your own usage. New sign ups ended years ago, but the existing contracts were something like 20 years.
Now the best you can get in Ontario are credits that expire in a year.