How much revenue does it generate
Capacity
kwh |
MicroFIT
Contract
Price
¢/kwh |
Initial
Investment
$ |
Yearly
Income
$ |
20 year
Gross
Income $ |
| 2 |
80.20 |
21,600 |
1,924.80 |
38,496 |
| 3 |
80.20 |
30,555 |
2,887.20 |
57,744 |
| 4 |
80.20 |
38,220 |
3,849.60 |
76,992 |
| 5 |
80.20 |
44,625 |
4,812.00 |
96,240 |
| 6 |
80.20 |
51,030 |
5,774.40 |
115,488 |
| 7 |
80.20 |
56,595 |
6,736.80 |
134,736 |
| 8 |
80.20 |
62,160 |
7,699.20 |
153,984 |
| 9 |
80.20 |
68,040 |
8,661,60 |
173,232 |
| 10 |
80.20 |
73,500 |
9,624.00 |
192,480 |
Based on 1200 "peak hours" per year (avg. for GTA)
Solar 101
Background research on solar energy
In order to discern if you and solar make a good fit, first you need a basic understanding of appropriate solar applications. At this point, you should be reading as much as you can.
Please check out the following resources:
If you already have a basic understanding of solar energy, please skip to the next step.
Pick your technology
Now that you have a basic understanding of solar technology, you may have an idea of what exactly you want solar to do for you.
Choose the application that you are most interested in learning more about:
- Solar Electricity
- Solar Water Heating
- Solar Pool Heating
- Solar Air Heating
Learn more about how each technology works
Solar Electrical Installations
There are many great resources out there about solar electricity. Please check out the following:
Solar Water Heating Installations
There are many great resources out there about solar water heating. Please check out the following:
Solar Air Heating Installations
There are many great resources out there about solar electricity. Please check out the following:
More details about commercial installations for solar air heating
At this point you may be interested in reading some of our case studies and fact sheets about solar installations.
- Published Solar Energy Case Studies, Natural Resources Canada
- Solar Air Heating in Industrial Facilities
Applications in ICI facilities, financial impact, incentives
- Active and Passive Solar For Apartment Buildings, CanSIA
- Solar Air Heating For Municipal Garages, CanSIA
- Solar Air Heating For Industrial Facilities,CanSIA
- Solar Thermal and Electric Energy for municipal environmental education centres, CanSIA
Airdrie Environmental Education Centre, Airdrie AB
- Solar Air Heating for animal barns, CanSIA
MEMO Farm, South Durham QC
- Solar Heated Air and PV Powered Fans for school portables, CanSIA
West Preparatory School, Toronto ON
More details about residential installations for solar air heating
At this point you may be interested in reading some of our case studies and fact sheets about solar installations.
More Resources
What is Solar Photovoltaics (PV)?
This information will help you understand how solar modules convert the sun's rays into electricity.
Solar electric modules (called photovoltaic or PV) can generate electricity for a range of applications:
- marine and aviation navigation lights, water pumping
- telecommunication repeater stations
- oil and gas SCADA systems
- off-grid remote houses
- off-grid lodges for fishing, hunting, and eco-tourism
- on-grid "distributed generation" to reduce peak power loads, save on utility bills, reduce stress on distribution lines, and provide voltage support for distribution lines.
- Solar PV technologies convert sunlight to electricity, as compared to active solar collectors (which convert sunlight to heat). The efficiency of solar PV increases in colder temperatures and is particularly well-suited for Canada's climate. A number of technologies are available which offer different solar conversion efficiencies and pricing.
- Solar PV modules can be grouped together as an array of series and parallel connected modules to provide any level of power requirements, from mere watts (W) to kilowatt (kW) and megawatt (MW) size.
The size of the solar array, battery bank, and AC inverter required for a typical solar PV application depends on a number of factors, such as the amount of electricity you use, the amount of sunlight at the site, the number of days without backup that you require, and the peak electricity demand at any given time. Sufficient battery storage can easily allow a solar PV system to operate fully independently of a utility or genset back-up.
On the technology side, it is easy to interconnect your PV system to your local utility company -- there are no technical barriers. There may be regulations, however, that you will need to work through with your utility, in order for them to allow you to generate your own electricity. The Canadian Electrical Code makes provision for you to generate your own electricity and to feed any excess back into the utility's power lines. Most solar PV equipment can be easily checked to ensure that it meets the provisions of the Code for safety purposes.
PV modules should be oriented between south-east and south-west (due south is best). Modules generally need an unobstructed view of the sun all the year. Systems can be sized to provide 100 percent of your electricity consumption at a cottage or campsite, or as a supplement to conventional utility electricity or genset electricity. A tracking system can orient the solar array to maximize its electricity production throughout the day and the year by tracking the movement of the sun, though this is typically not practical for most applications.
At this time, there are no national incentive programs for the installation of solar electric systems.
For an accurate assessment of your needs and your site, a qualified system designer can provide you with guidance that you need. We recommend that you rely on a CanSIA member, who has agreed to comply with CanSIA's Code of Ethics to ensure satisfaction for your specific installation.
What is Solar Thermal?
This information will help you understand how solar thermal collectors take the sun's rays and convert them into heat for warming of water.
Solar energy can heat water for at least four different applications:
- potable (drinking) and service use (washing) use in homes
- potable and service use in commercial, and institutional and industrial facilities
- radiant floor heating
- swimming pools (indoor or outdoor).
Almost all applications use collectors, which are aimed at the sun to collect as much radiation heat as possible. There are three basic types of collectors:
- seasonal collectors (these units are simple design and often circulate water through plastic pipes, they offer little protection from freezing)
- flat plate collectors (these units may circulate an anti-freeze fluid through insulated pipes, and release the
- collected heat through the use of a heat exchanger)
- evacuated tube collectors (these are highly insulated glass cylinders which maximize the absorption of heat and minimize the loss of heat from the system).
Generally speaking, the three types above offer increasing collection efficiency and increasing cost of installation.
The number of collectors required for a site depends on a number of factors, such as the size of your load (ie: how much water do you need to heat), the efficiency of the unit, the amount of solar radiation at the site, the amount of storage available, etc.
Collectors should be aimed as south as possible, and installations require unobstructed access to the sun's path in all four seasons. Systems can be designed to provide 100 percent of your water heating or to use the solar energy as a supplement to a conventional heating facility.
For an accurate assessment of your needs and a site assessment, a qualified system designer can provide guidance. We recommend that you rely on a CanSIA member, who has agreed to comply with a Code of Ethics to ensure satisfaction for your specific installation.
Natural Resources Canada has developed a free software program, called RETScreen, that can assess the feasibility of a solar water heating installation in any region of Canada. It runs on Microsoft ExcelTM, and is available free of charge by downloading it off the internet from RETScreen.
What if I move?
A microFIT contract holder may choose to move or sell his or her home before the end of the contract term. In this case, the microFIT contract can be assigned to the new homeowner who can take over the contract for the remainder of the contract term.
For example, if you have a 20-year microFIT contract and you assign it after 15 years to a new homeowner, the new microFIT contract holder will receive contract payments for the remaining five years of the contract term. It is up to you (and your real estate agent) to determine the value of the microFIT project when you are selling your home.
