by Ian Mallov
Generating renewable energy at home is steadily gaining popularity in Ottawa.
Since Ontario’s introduction in 2008 of the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program paying homeowners for green power, home solar power installations in particular have quickly caught on.
“It all started (for me) when I went to the Green Ottawa show in April 2010 when I was looking to put in a new roof,” says resident Dennis Jackson. Jackson began installing solar panels that fall and was selling power back to the grid by December. Now he volunteers to share his experience at information sessions hosted by Ecology Ottawa for those interested in installing their own solar panels.
“The way I looked at it was that it was much smarter to invest the money in my roof than in the market,” Jackson says. He is on track to recoup his original investment eight-and-a-half years from installation, leaving the revenues for the remaining 11 and a half years of his contract as profit. Should he choose to sell, the value will be in his house.
His story is not atypical. Many see room for much more growth as people begin to view home solar panels as not only lucrative, but easy. Rooftop panels in urban neighbourhoods like Centretown allow homeowners to make a safe extra buck in uncertain economic times.
Facilitating this is renewed commitment by the provincial government to FIT as the program expands. This means it will be quicker and easier, government officials have said, to complete the three major steps in solar installations: roof assessment, putting up the panels, and contracting with Ontario Hydro. The guaranteed contracts—Ontario Hydro will pay home solar panel owners the same rate for a twenty years—are designed so that home and business owners are rewarded with a significant profit over that timespan.
Enthusiasm for solar power is not confined to business and family buildings. In Ottawa, several churches, schools and municipal buildings are already using solar panels as both a community education tool and a revenue source. Ecology Ottawa’s Janice Ashworth says that, with the spring and summer seasons just beginning, the timing is ideal for more people to begin thinking solar now.
Ottawa’s Second Annual Solar Fair is upcoming on Saturday, June 16 at City Hall from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. If discussion on local website 1000solarrooftops.com is any indication, it is already generating ample buzz in a city rapidly realizing it has access to its own readily accessible resource.