The Solar Story Begins Again – March 2010

Move forward to March 2010 where I ran into Peter Glover at a green expo at Lansdowne. He suggested that we register with the Ontario MicroFit program just to create the option for participation in the program before the rate changes. Originally it was said that the program would be around for 2 years but after getting 6000 applications, the rumour is that it might end early.

In terms of registration, essentially you complete an online application to register for the program and if you are accepted then you have a year to install the panels. By getting in line now, we would most likely get the rate of 80.2 cents per kWh before the province re-evaluates the program and potentially lower the payment per kWh. I am not going to go into great detail about the program itself at this time. The basic premise is that our solar panels would not generate power for our house but would be connected back into the grid and then we would receive a payment from the province for the amount of power generated.

The registration process was easy. It consists of an online application with standard inputs (i.e., name, contact information, etc). We did have to input the "Nameplate capacity of the proposed microFIT project (in kW).” Based on an initial assessment, we included 1.8 kW in the application form (8 panels at 225 watts each).

For more information, visit http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/