Go Solar
We got solar panels installed on our roof over the summer and are loving them! As you can see from the screenshots above, we have already earned 986.19$ and prevented 1,344.85 kg of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere... not too shabby.
If you think you might be interested in getting some for your home, ACT NOW as Ontario’s microFIT program will stop accepting applications at the end of 2017.
What is the microFIT program?
The microFIT Program was launched in 2009 as part of the Ontario government’s efforts to increase renewable energy in the province. The program provides Ontarians with the opportunity to develop a “micro” renewable electricity generation project (10 kilowatts or less in size) such as a solar panel installation. Participants are paid a guaranteed price over a 20-year term (we are getting 28.8 cents per kWh) for the electricity they produce and deliver to the province’s electricity grid.
If you prefer to use the energy generated by your panels to power your own home, this is also an option; however, current hydro rates are much lower than 28.8 cents per kWh so you’ll make your money back quicker by selling the energy generated by your solar panels to the province and just continuing to pay your hydro bill as usual. Only when the price of hydro rises above 28.8 cents per kWh does it make economic sense to switch to using your solar energy to power your our own home. The way we see it, the positive environmental impact is the same whether we use the solar power ourselves or sell it to the grid for others to use… so for now we are going with the option that will result in us recouping the cost of our panels the quickest.
What is the cost and expected rate of return?
We went with a largish system (9.6 killowatts), which covers the entire back of our roof and one of the sides. We paid a little over 30,000$ for it and can expect to be paid somewhere between 3000$ and 3500$ per year for the energy it produces. For tax purposes, microFIT projects are treated like a small business. To keep things simple, we opened up a homeowner’s line of credit and are using this to pay for all expenses related to the project and plan to immediately deposit all the money we are paid for the energy produced back into this account. Assuming an average interest rate of 3.5%, we expect it to take roughly 10 years to fully pay off the panels and all the associated costs of getting our microFIT project up and running (inspections, hydro connection fee, etc). So, in summary: for the first 10 years all the money earned will go towards paying off the line of credit we took out to finance the project, and from then on any money earned will essentially be pure profit!
What if we’re planning on selling our home in less than 10 years?
For anyone planning on remaining in their home for 10+ years, enrolling in the microFIT program seems to be a pretty safe investment. If you think you might move in less than 10 years time, it’s a bit of a toss-up… on the one hand it’s unlikely that you will have earned back enough money to cover the cost of the panels, but on the other hand potential buyers are likely to pay more for a house with solar panels so you may end up getting your money back via higher resale value of your home.
If you have any questions about the microFIT program application process or purchasing/installing solar panels, please don’t hesitate to send me a message or post your questions on the go greenish facebook page.
Here is the link for the microFIT program website:
http://www.ieso.ca/en/get-involved/microfit/news-overview
If you live in the London region I highly recommend Lyle Lemon at Solcan for the installation:
http://solcan.ca/
There are a lot of steps involved in the process and he was fantastic at guiding us through each of them.
And finally,
