Canada | Green World Investor

Solar Panels Ontario Canada Guide on Cost,Sale,Manufacturers and Rebate (Microfit)

5 Jul, 2011

Canada,Canadian Solar,MEMC,Solar Energy,Solar EPC,Solar Panels

Solar Panels Demand has exploded in Ontario Canada boosted the the provincial government MicroFit program which gives a generous feed in tariff (higher electricity price) for the solar power generated from silicon solar panels fitted to your home or office.The Feed-in-Tariff depends on the size of the solar installation and is guaranteed for 20 years at a fixed price.This implies that you not only save on power bills but also get a much higher electricity price for the solar energy electricity that you are generating.This has led to a veritable boom in solar panels sale in Ontario and made it the fastest growing solar energy region in the whole of North America.However solar panels cannot be bought from anybody to qualify you for a government rebate.Only Solar Panels which meet the domestic production criteria can get solar rebates from the government.

Solar Panel Rebates in Ontario

How to get Solar Rebates for your home under microfit program.Under the microFIT Program, you will be paid a guaranteed price for all the electricity your project produces for at least 20 years.You can read the complete contract here

There are three key steps involved in participating in the microFIT Program:

Applicants will first need to obtain an offer to connect from their local distribution company before the OPA issues a microFIT conditional offer of contract.
Build and connect your project
Accept your contract

What is Domestic Content Requirement

To ensure that you get the government rebate you must make sure that 60% content of your solar system installation is made in Ontario.The calculation of this is a bit complex and best left to installers,however if you are competent enough here are details of the domestic content requirement

Solar Rebate Pricing

For Solar PV Installations on the Roof you can get 80c/Kwh while for ground mounted solar plants you get 64c/Kwh.Note this is for solar panel installations under 10 kilowatt in size.You also have to first get the contract approved from the electricity distributor which might have a long waiting list.

Read about the current pricing and rules here

Solar Panels Costs

Solar Panels cost for the cheapest solar panel manufacturers in around $1.10/watt and they retail for around $2/watt of residential customers.Because in Ontario you cannot freely buy any solar panel it might you cost much more.Please not solar panel prices have decreased by 30-40% in 2011.You should shop around to get a cheap deal from a decent quality Chinese solar panel brand.Because of the domestic content requirement you may have to pay $3/watt for your solar panel also.Note for utility large scale buyers of solar panel buyers,the cost is much lower.Solar Panels Costs have trended down quite in the last 3-4 years except in 2010 when they went up as solar panel demand increased by more than 150% .Solar Panel Costs are the biggest component of a Solar System Cost.The costs for Solar Panels are lower for Thin Film Solar Panel for example First Solar Panels are much lower in cost but have lower Solar Panel Efficiency .Solar Panels in general cost between40-60% of the total system costs

Solar Inverter Costs

Solar Inverters cost around 50c/watt for small buyers of solar systems but can cost lower for large kilowatt inverter sizes and for scale buyers.Solar Inverters are a crucial component of a solar system and make up around 10% of the solar system costs.Here is a list of major solar inverter brands

Solar Panel Manufacturers in Ontario

Note with the Domestic Content Requirement it has become essential that the solar panel must be made in Ontario.Even if you get all the wiring and installation done in Ontario it won’t quality for domestic content because some of the silicon,wafers,cells or modules has to be made in the province.Since making solar panels is the easiest part,only solar panels are produced domestically in Ontario by most companies though some companies are making solar inverters in the province as well.

Major Solar Panel Manufacturers in Ontario

Canadian Solar – Canadian Solar is the largest solar company in Canada with most of its manufacturing in China.The company not only produces silicon solar panels but also does solar integration work as well as develops solar farms. The Company sells a wide variety of solar panels unlike other producers.The Solar Panel Selling Price is also quite cheap.The Company is headquartered in Canada with factories in China and Ontario.Canadian Solar is the 5th biggest producer of Solar Panels in China.
Flextronics, the leading Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider has managed to successfully leverage its Electronic Manufacturing Expertise to become the top OEM choice for Solar Companies .Flextronics came into prominence as a premier solar outsourcing partner when German solar cell giant Q-Cells gave its Solar Module outsourcing contract to this company.The company has opened a solar panel producing plant in partnership with MEMC/Sunedision in Newmarket.
Siliken is a Spanishcompany involved in production of solar grade silicon and solar panels. Siliken has two module manufacturing plants, one silicon production plant and an inverter manufacturing plant in Spain. Siliken has module production plants in the US, Mexico, Canada and Romania
Silfab has a one of the biggest solar panel operations in Ontario having started operations in 2010 and expanding it in 2011

Small Solar Panel Manufacturers in Ontario

Lumin Solar has a Ontario based manufacturing facility producing solar panels in the 240+ Watt size range.ocated in Thornhill, Ontario, Lumin Solar serves a wide breadth of industrial, commercial and residential customers throughout the local Ontario region, Canadian and Global markets.
Opsun Panels Inc., a subsidiary of Opsun Technologies Inc., has a 50-megawatt (MW) solar panel production line in the province. Opsun also its SunRail mounting system and StructuralPV commercial solution in Ontario.
SolGate, located in Ontario, Canada is at the forefront of science . We are proud to be the first large-scale solar panels manufacturer in the province of Ontario. Our 24,000 square foot manufacturing facility just north of Toronto boasts a current annual capacity of 20 MW of PV power production
Magnum Pv will begin production of its high-efficiency solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in October 2011 at its 142,000-sq.-ft. facility in Brampton, Ontario. The company will make monocrystalline and polycrystalline PV modules in 245, 250, 290 and 300 watt models.
Centennial Global Technology Inc. is a Canadian owned and operated, Ontario based solar panel or photovoltaic module manufacturer

How Many Solar Panels do You Need

Calculating how many Solar Panels you need is quite tricky as it depends on the Solar Panels Efficiency,Design of the Solar Array,the place where you live etc.

1) Solar Panels Efficiency – Some Solar Panels are more efficient.For example Solar Panels made by Sunpower and Sanyo are the most efficient which means they require less area.For space constrained homes,they are the best bet but they cost more per watt hour of electricity generated.Click on the heading of this paragraph to understand more aboutEfficiency.

2) Sun Light or Solar Insolation – This measures the amount of sun light that your solar panel installation recieves.Typical Solar Insolation is around 1000-1500 watt hour per year.This means that if you install 1 watt of solar panels you will get 1-1.5 units of electricity per year.You should first calculate how much electricity you require per year.If you require around 7200 units a year you would need to install a 5 kilowatt or 5000 watts solar array.You can find out the solar insolation you receive from free websites like a) www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatt if you live in the USA and b)re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/countries/countries-europe.htm if you live in Europe.These websites also give you information about the solar insolation/radiation you live

3) Design of the Solar Array – This is very important in ensuring that you get the most power out of your solar panels.The design of the solar array should always be done by a good solar installer.Note this is a fragmented industry but you can find more about the big solar installers in the USA here.You should ensure basic stuff such that there is no shading of your solar panels,the roof does not leak,the materials used are good.Also having a good solar inverter is important.Nowadays you can get individual solar microinverters for each solar panel as well.Note almost 1-520% of the power generated by your solar panels is wasted in converting from DC to AC.

Also Read about how Solar Panels generate Electricity

Biggest Solar Power Plant – A Moving Target Being Superseded by even Bigger Solar Plants from First Solar

11 Apr, 2011

Canada,Concentrated Solar Thermal,First Solar,Solar Energy,Solar EPC,Solar Panels,Solar Photovoltaic Energy,Sunpower,USA

Solar Power Plants till a couple of years were quite small compared to the mainstream energy power plants.Most power plants were in the double digit range with no Solar Farms having the capacity of 100 MW or greater.This is in reference to PV Solar Power Plants and not to Solar Thermal Plants which are bigger in size.Note Solar Thermal Plants by the very nature of technology require larger sizes to be economical just like Thermal or Nuclear Power Plants.On the other hand PV Power Plants do not gain much in economies of scale and government prefer giving subsidies to distributed rooftop solar installations rather than large solar farms.However falling costs of solar panels and rising costs of fossil fuels has led to the emergence of large power plants.Currently Ontario,Canada hosts the largest solar plant in the world built by the world’s biggest producer of Solar Thin Film Panels First Solar.It is to be soon surpassed by First Solar and Sunpower solar plants being built in the US where utility solar plants are preferred.Note Solar Power Plants are being constantly superseded by even bigger solar plants so the title of the Biggest Solar Power Plant is a moving Target.USA is the where the biggest power plants are going to be built,here is a list of the Top US Solar Companies/Installers

Largest Solar Thermal Power Plant

The largest Solar Thermal Power Plant was built in the Mojave Desert in California using Power Troughs by company called Lux.It was built in the 1980s and continues to generate power even today though the solar thermal power technology came to an abrupt stop after subsides were removed and oil prices crashed.

The Blythe Solar Power Plant being built by Solar Millennium with a capacity of around 970 MW will be the biggest solar power plant in the world when/if gets built.

Largest Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

The Sarnia Solar Power Plant built in 20 MW phases by First Solar is the biggest PV Power Plant in the world till 2010 with a capacity of 97 MW.First Solar has sold the Sarnia Plant to Enbridge.

The Second Biggest Solar PV Power Plant is the Montalto di Castro photovoltaic power station n the Lazio region of Italy near Rome,which was built by Italian Developer SunRay using Sunpower high efficiency solar panels.

Future PV Power Plants

The Ordos Power Plant in China being built by First Solar in phases should be the largest when completed with a power capacity of a massive 2000 MW.The project ran into problems but with First Solar tying up with a Chinese power utility the project has higher chances of completion.

The Topaz Solar Farm in California will be the largest in 2014 if the project s expected to begin construction in 2011 and be fully operational by 2014.The Farm is being built again by First Solar with a capacity of 550 MW

Is Geothermal Energy Dying a slow painful death?

17 Feb, 2011

Canada

Geothermal Energy is the proverbial poor cousin to wind and solar energy.Only 10 GW of Geothermal Energy Capacity has been installed and the growth rate is a pathetic 3-4% compared to the over 50% CAGR seen for solar energy and around 30% for Wind Energy.Geothermal Energy produces electricity at a reasonable cost in mature locations and unlike Solar,Wind does not suffer from intermittent problems.However a number of problems dog geothermal energy development.These problems are

1) Financing is the biggest problem in developing projects particularly for small project developers in this industry.There are few big geothermal developers like Chevron and Calpine.

2) Long Gestation Time Leading to Cost Overruns – The Gestation Time for permitting,financing,drilling etc. can easily take 5-7 years to develop a geothermal energy field.Compare this to 6 months for a small wind farm or 3 months for a Solar PV plant

3) Slow Technology Improvement – Geothermal Energy has the potential to generate 100s of gigawatts of electricity through new techniques like EGS.However the technology improvement has been slow with setbacks.

4) Regulations – Drilling for new geothermal energy fields,buying of geothermal companies in foreign geographies faces innumerable hurdles.Magma which is one of the biggest geothermal energy companies faced massive local opposition in trying to buy an Icelandic company.This prevents the growth of pureplay geothermal companies in acquiring a critical scale.

Despite huge promise,Geothermal Energy faces a slow painful death and unless something dramatic happens will remain a niche renewable energy source.Canadian companies which are the leaders in consolidating the fragmented industry like Ram Power and Magma Power are facing huge problems.While Ram Power saw its CEO go,Magma is now looking at other renewable energy opportunities.

Magma says geothermal industry growth limited

Ross Beaty, CEO of Magma, one of the world’s biggest developers of geothermal energy resources, also said he is disappointed by the lack of “real return” to investors in the sector over the past few years.”The geothermal industry is small and the scope for growth quite limited, even internationally,” he said on a conference call to discuss Vancouver-based Magma’s quarterly results.

Magma rival Ram Power Corp, once regarded as a key industry consolidator, is down a steep 65 percent in the past year, most recently hurt by a big cost over-run at a project in Nicaragua and the departure of its CEO this week.Magma too has run into difficulties. In Iceland, it has faced high-profile public opposition, notably from singer Bjork, to its purchase last year of geothermal producer HS Orka. Opponents of the purchase argue that Iceland’s natural resources should not be owned by foreigners.

USA Opposes India’s Solar Energy Domestic Content Requirements

15 Dec, 2010

Canada,China,Energy,First Solar,Solar Energy,Solar Panels,Sunpower,USA

USA has opposed India’s Local Content Requirements for the Federal Solar Energy JNNSM program.Note according to the JNNSM rules,solar panels will have to be produced in India for the first year and solar cells will also have to produced from the second year.There is also a proposal that the local content requirements may be extended beyond 2013 and will also include solar inverters.US administration is opposed to these rules as it will lead to export hurdles for its solar companies Sunpower and First Solar.India installers and developers have also opposed the move as it will lead to lesser choice amongst suppliers and probably higher costs.

Note India solar cell/module manufacturers are heavily in favor of the domestic content rules as it will be difficult for them to compete with much larger and lower cost Chinese companies.Note China has not protested against these moves as it promoted its Domestic Wind Energy Industry in 2006 through this policy.Ontario,Canada too is following the same policy and has been take to the WTO by Japan.Note USA has not been a party to the Japanese move,as its companies have won large contracts in the region.There are both pros and cons to the domestic content policy for solar energy but one thing is for sure if free imports are allowed,Indian companies are not in a position to compete with the foreign ones on cost.

U.S. Pushes India to Lift Solar Import Restrictions

U.S. government officials and companies are pushing India to remove its restrictions on imports of solar technology, regulations they say threaten to cut American firms out of a promising market as India embarks on a major rollout of solar power.

A spokesman for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that “limiting access to high-quality solar equipment that is available outside India is likely to only frustrate” India’s plans to boost solar power production and “discourage further investors from developing solar projects in India.”

Bryan Ashley, co-chairman of a task force that represents U.S. solar companies, and chief marketing officer of Suniva Inc., a Norcross, Ga., photovoltaic-cell maker, says the import restrictions will cut off Indian solar companies from advanced technologies. “This has been pushed by some in the Indian industry to give themselves a monopoly,” he said.

Largest US Renewable Energy Producer NextEra Energy goes on a Solar Farm Buying/Building Spree

8 Dec, 2010

Canada,Concentrated Solar Thermal,First Solar,Solar Photovoltaic Energy,Sunpower,USA,Wind Energy

NextEra Energy Resources which was previously known as FPL Energy has bought a number of Solar Energy Generating Assets in the past few months.NextEra is the largest Renewable Energy utility in the USA with around 18 GW of Capacity out of which around 6.5 GW is Gas and 7.5 GW of Wind Powered Capacity plus 2.5 GW of Nuclear Energy.NextEra Energy with its long experience in Green Energy Generation has now decided to expand its Solar Asset Portfolio buying equity stakes in Solar Thermal as well as Solar PV Farms in USA and Canada.NextEra Energy is already the biggest Wind Energy Producer in the United States and on the way to become the biggest Solar Energy Producer as well.While Wind Energy is facing uncertain times in the USA,Solar Energy is growing at a rapid clip driven by the sharp fall in Solar Panel Costs which have more than halved in the last 2 years.

Solar Thermal Expansion

NextEra is expanding rapidly in Solar Thermal Energy in California with regulators recently approved two Solar Thermal Plants of 250 MW Capacity each being developed by NextEra.The 250 MW Beacon Solar Energy Project was the first large Solar Thermal Farm to receive permission from California Energy Commission.Next was the 250 MW Genesis solar thermal power project in Riverside County.NextEra could start construction in the fourth quarter of 2010 with commercial service by the second quarter of 2013.Genesis will have two 125-MW solar units that produce electricity using steam turbine generators fed from solar steam generators. The solar steam generators would receive heated transfer fluid from solar thermal equipment from arrays of parabolic mirrors that collect energy from the sun.Note NextEra is also a stakeholder in the SEGS Solar Array which was built in the 1980s.

Solar PV Projects Acquisition

While NextEra is a major developer of Solar PV Projects,it has recently bought out large solar farms being constructed by major utility solar PV Developers Sunpower and First Solar .It bought the entire equity in Sunpower’s proposed 250 MW Valley Solar Ranch Project which is expected to start construction in 2011.It has also bought solar farms in Ontario,Canada from thin film leader First Solar.No price was given for the purchase, which totals 40 megawatts of energy.First Solar will develop the Sombra and Moore solar Projects using its thin-film solar modules.Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011 with commercial operation expected by year-end.

Note other US Utilities like Exelon and NRG Energy have been snapping up Wind Power Assets taking advantage of the sharp downturn in the valuation of Wind Energy Farms in 2010.Its a matter of time before other USA Utilties follow NextEra Energy into Solar Energy Generation as RPS standards start being implement by more and more US states.

The Real Reason Behind Japan’s WTO Challenge of Ontario’s Green Energy Subsidy Local Contect Requirements

14 Sep, 2010

Canada,Japan,Renewable Energy,Samsung,Siemens,South Korea

Ontario,Canada is the first state in North America to implement a comprehensive Feed in Tariff Program for Renewable Energy.This Subsidy Scheme has already attracted a lot of investor attention and dollars with a large amount of solar and wind capacity already in the works.Though the FIT program has faced some problems with change in FIT rates and criticism of its expense,it as largely proven to be a big success.The province has managed to attract a lot of manufacturing investment as well due to its local content requirements which requires around 50-60% locally produced parts.This has made Solar Module companies like Silfab and Canadian Solar to set up module plants while companeis like Enphase,Schneider and SMA are setting up inverter plants in the province.Note the local content requirements for Renewable Energy Equipment are nothing new with China implementing a 70% requirement in 2005 for Wind Turbines.However China could justify this on its developing country status while Ontario has little grounds for this mandate.However this is the first time that a Feed in Tariff Scheme is being challenged under World Trade Organisation which in principle is against any favoritism of local companies against foreign ones.

Japan starts WTO dispute with Canada on clean power – Reuters

Japan has initiated a trade dispute against Canada related to renewable energy equipment in the province of Ontario, the World Trade Organisation confirmed on Monday.

The Japanese mission to the WTO said the dispute centres on guaranteed long-term pricing for solar and wind generators made with a certain percentage of locally-produced components.The request for consultations by Tokyo is the first step in a WTO dispute. If the two sides do not reach an agreement on their own, a WTO panel would be set up to arbitrate the dispute in a process that could eventually lead to retaliation.

Why is Japan miffed over Ontario’s Green Subsidies

While Japan is a big player in the Solar Energy Manufacturing Market,there are other significant players like USA,China,Germany which have not protested against this discrimination.So why is Japan so miffed as to approach the WTO over this issue.One reason that i can readily think of is the Huge $7 Billion Contract given to Samsung by the Ontario government.The agreement with Samsung gives it the subsidies to set up a huge solar and wind energy capacity in the province.The government will support the company through preferential grid access,subsidies and land.This has given a huge boost to the Green Ambitions of Samsung which wants to become a big player in the Renewable Energy Area.Samsung as part of the deal will also set up a Wind Turbine Facility and Solar Manufacturing in Ontario.It has already tied up with Siemens to set up the Wind Turbine Plant.Note this Deal was not a Global Tender or anything like that.South Korea’s main competitor Japan has been on the losing end in UAE’s $20 Billion Nuclear Power Deal as well.This was another loss for Japan’s Conglomerates like Sharp,Mitsubishi,Kyocera and others who are big players in the Green Energy Arena.

Ontario’s green deal raises ire of energy developers – Globe and Mail

His government signed a $7-billion deal yesterday with a consortium led by South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group that will cost every electricity customer in the province an extra $1.60 a year on their bill for 25 years.However, the move raised the ire of energy developers and opposition members, who argued that Samsung is getting a sweetheart deal. Mr. McGuinty is luring the company to the province with financial incentives over and above the generous guaranteed revenue stream his government pays green-energy companies.

But the Samsung deal could make it difficult for other companies to enter the market, because the province has limited capacity to transmit electricity to consumers’ homes. Transmission power will be held in reserve to support Samsung’s projects.Samsung also will be paid the feed-in rate of 13.5 cents a kilowatt hour for the wind power it produces and 44.3 cents for its solar power. Electricity bills are climbing in Ontario, because these generous contracts with green power producers are well above the market price of 3.31 cents for electricity.

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