Is this solar-power program a money-saver?

When Mississauga resident Paul Ford opened the door to a salesman in the spring of 2010, he had never considered putting solar panels on his roof. He was surprised when the pitchman told him that not only would the panels not cost him a dime, but the roof would make him money.
“I said, ‘You’re kidding,’ and the conversation just went from there,” Mr. Ford says.
The pitch went like this: Pure Energies Inc. of Markham, Ont., would finance, install and maintain an array of solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of Mr. Ford’s 3,200-square-foot home. The energy produced by those solar panels would flow into Mississauga’s main power grid from his home, with a meter monitoring the energy produced.
In return for that “clean” electricity, the Ministry of Energy, through the Ontario Power Authority, would pay Pure Energies 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (as part of the province’s Feed-In-Tariff program, implemented in 2009 to help phase out coal-fired electricity), with Mr. Ford sharing in the revenue. That rate would be guaranteed for 20 years.
Mr. Ford went for it, and his nine-kilowatt rooftop array has been producing solar energy for his community for almost a year. He will be getting a cheque for around $1,000 from Pure Energies on the one-year anniversary of the installation.
Since its inception 2½ years ago, Ontario’s microFIT program (for arrays producing up to 10 kilowatts of energy) has attracted applications from more than 40,000 home and business owners. According to the Energy Ministry, as of Sept. 30, 2011, more than 8,400 microFIT projects are online and 3,000 others are ready to connect to the electricity grid.
Of course, as with all new technologies, the introduction of solar has not run entirely smoothly. Many taxpayers are annoyed that the provincial government has provided significant subsidies for solar installations (for which they are being taxed) and bureaucratic issues in connecting them to the power grid have stalled growth.
Furthermore, while thousands may have applied, others who might have been interested have adopted a wait-and-see attitude: Will the technology be outdated by the time the contract is up? How will a solar lease affect the resale of a property?
But even those who are keen to get in on the action will have to wait. The microFIT program (as well as the FIT program, for solar installations above 10 kW) is currently going through a review by the ministry. As part of the review, Energy Minister Chris Bentley is consulting members of the solar industry until Dec. 14.
After the consultation process, a report will be presented to Mr. Bentley in the new year. And while the ministry says new microFIT applications are welcome in the interim, they will not be processed until the new rules are established.
Many in the industry expect the review could mean a lower rate offered under the microFIT program. But would a lower rate also mean a lower rate of return (and smaller cheques for homeowners)?
Not necessarily, says Jon Kieran, chair of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (he says 300 to 400 companies with CanSIA membership offer residential solar in the province). Because the cost of materials has also been dropping, companies may be able to pass along those savings to the consumer.
“Although prices may and will fall, costs have fallen,” he says. “So for a homeowner, I hope they don’t see that lower price in the context of any estimate they may have heard a year ago, or two years ago or even six months ago, because people in the industry are trying to offer these services at a lower price.”
Jacob Travis, president of the Solar Alliance of Ontario, says rates can come down if the government works on fixing inefficiencies in the program, which would mean that labour costs would come down as well. (The popularity of the Ontario microFIT program has resulted in delays throughout the application and implementation process.)
1 2 Next
Source http://www.theglobeandmail.com