More Good News for Ontario Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy World just published a well written article about the proposed Ontario Green Energy Act.  I was quoted a couple of times, and enjoyed the article as a whole, although it’s still strange to see what was a 30 to 40 minute conversation condensed into a few sentences.  I’ve linked to co-author Jon Warren’s blog before, and I agree with most of what he has to say.

I’ve written in support of the Green Energy Act already, but this is fairly thorough treatment of what this act will specifically mean for renewable energy companies in Ontario.  Definitely worth a read.  Jon doesn’t say too much about some of the other advantages that Ontario has right now for renewable energy ventures.  First off, the Ontario Green Energy Act, and the Clean Tech Investment Fund are just the tip of the iceberg for government funding opportunities in Ontario, and many of the other funds are cozying up to Green companies as well.  Add to that federal government programs like the SR&ED and IRAP, along with the SDTC, and local support, funding and research collaboration from groups like OCETA, OCE and even start-up support from the MaRS DD, and basically it’s not just renewable energy companies, but renewable energy innovators and entrepreneurs that are getting the love.

SR&ED is a great example – you get a direct cash reimbursement of up to 35% of research expenses up to $2 Million, and %20 on excess amounts.  It’s not specifically a renewable incentive, but ANY company no matter how small that’s actually doing research can qualify.  Basically, there are good incentives at the Federal level, and Ontario is upping the ante.  Throw in all that under-utilized automotive infrastructure and I guarantee you that there will be more than a few clean tech success stories in Ontario.  Will Ontario be the next Germany?  In the sense of being a solar energy success story, sure.

One small clarification, the photo of a solar panel installation is credited to Morgan Solar, and it’s not emphasized that we took the photo, but the panel pictured is not ours.  That photo were taken by our engineers on a day where we were helping some people from the Toronto Atmospheric Fund run some tests on the PV array installed on the Automotive Building at Exhibition Place.  They needed to take some measurements, and we happened to have the gear required to do it, so we lent a hand.

Breaking the model

I was just reading a blog post about the world solar energy market over at Go Green Solar.  Good short post about which countries have the most solar PV and why.  Here’s the summary image of the article:

Installed PV by Country - 2007

Keep in mind that this doesn’t include Solar Thermal, which would change the US and Spanish shares of this chart somewhat.  The fact remains that right now, economics rule solar.  Expensive electricity + Incentives = Booming Solar Industry.

But there’s nothing set in stone about this model.  Electricity prices are going up, the cost of solar is coming down, and the old energy sources are becoming more volatile.  So the current electrical generation model, and the “energy crisis” that politicians love to talk about is very real in the sense that changes are coming, and big ones.  The current subsidies all flow to oil and coal right now, with nuclear and hydro-electric dams getting a meaningful chunk of cash too.

What makes solar and other renewables is that they have the power to break the current model, and soon enough, can break it with or without the subsidies that it’s so clearly dependent on.  That’s what makes our current project at Morgan Solar so exciting – we want to be one of the first companies (but by no means the only one) that crosses that subsidy barrier.

We want to be making solar power systems that cost less than the electricity they produce, and we think we can do it in the next year or two.  Breaking the model entirely, and shaking up the system.  How cool is that?

Also, for those people in Toronto, Tuesday is the first of the OCETA Breakfast Sessions.  I’m going, and I have hopes for these, I know the people that set them up, and I’m expecting the quality to be excellent.

Almost Forgot

If you’re in Toronto and you’re interested in Environmental Technology, you should check this out:

Growning Your Business: Breakfast Sessions

It’s being put on by the Ontario Centres for Environmental Technology Advancement, and I know these guys.  They know what they’re talking about, the speakers are going to be first rate and I really recommend it for anyone who lives in the GTA and is interested in this sort of thing.