Why Solar Energy and Why the Blog

This blog is directed to people who want to install Solar panels on the rooftop of their house or on their property and really don’t know to much about the process, the technology or the lingo. It is geared more to the Ontario MicroFit experience but is relevant to anyone anywhere in the world that wants to put up a system.

I’ve tried to look at all the issues please use my information as a starting point-do your own research and double check my comments and suggestions.  I am not an engineer or technologist but someone who is experiencing my own installation and thought it would be valuable to share.

Feel free to make your comments and criticisms as well since we want to make this the most valuable experience out there for those that want to know. 

The Beginning

How I came to install my rooftop solar system probably started when we had the large blackout in the Northeast corner of the U.S and parts of Ontario and Quebec in 2003.  It actually was a wonderful experience.  For the first time, while living in the city you could actually see the night sky and view the stars, planets and milky way without light pollution destroying the vista.  In fact, it was quite amazing to see people actually looking up at the sky above. People came out of their homes and talked to their neighbours and offered whatever help was required.  We should have blackouts every 5 or 10 years to bring our communities together.

Aside from enjoying the event I got to thinking about the delicacy of my situation. Everything depended upon energy. When the umbilical cord to the generating facility was broken we were helpless.  Of course, today there is the problem of the cost of energy, energy efficiency, the impact of using energy (climate change) etc.  With this in mind when Ontario offered their MicroFit program to the public, I took notice.

Ontario was not the first country to offer a “Fit” or feed in tariff program. Germany and England and other jurisdictions offer them in various flavours. The Ontario program at the time offered .802 cents Canadian per Kw energy generated from a rooftop array.

Sounds like a lot of money, when compared to what we pay in the City of Vaughan to Powerstream our local power distribution company which is approx.. 9 -11 cents delivered per kW. However, considering the cost of installation at the time (2011),

 and other related costs, potential equipment replacement and the commitment of 20 years- it is reasonable the tariff.  Now one year later the microFIT tariff has been revised downward to reflect the reduced cost of solar panels and inverters.

What this blog will attempt to do is provide some information and a forum for interested parties to gain some of the insight that I have had  while I travelled through the swarmp out in the ether,  trying to find some relevant information.  There is lots of info out there but hard to find in one place and  written in a friendly and informative manner.   The Net is diffuse, sometimes too technical and especially when  looking for information about rooftop solar  installation in Ontario- difficult to find.  There are lots of company websites but they generally do a pretty bad job at educating the consumer.  The Ontario government has done a terrible job at providing the necessary information for someone trying to access the viability of MicroFit.  And the Canadian government is not in "support renewable energy mode",  and instead is in "support Alberta tar sands mode"  (not withstanding  RETscreen http://www.retscreen.net/)  and you know where that is going.-definitely in the wrong direction. 

 Other jurisdiction like California  http://www.gosolarcalifornia.org/ , the UK http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Financial-incentives/Feed-In-Tariffs-scheme-FITs, have excellent websites to help their citizens make an informed decision- not Ontario or Canada