anadia-needs-a-national-solar-policy
Canada Needs a National Solar Policy
By Jared Donald, President, Conergy Canada February 17, 2012 | 2
Comments While solar PV has made tremendous strides in Canada in the past
year, each province still faces different challenges that call for a
national solar energy policy.
Edmonton, Canada -- The solar industry has worked diligently over the last
year to inform and educate the Canadian public and the federal government on
the environmental and economic benefits of solar energy. As part of these
efforts, representatives and members from the Canadian Solar Industries
Association (CanSIA) met with the Department of Finance and Natural
Resources to discuss a national incentive structure. In addition, CanSIA
representatives stood as witnesses before the Senate Standing Committee on
Energy and the Environment, presenting the benefits of solar PV for
Canadians. These efforts were instrumental in garnering recommendations for
the furthering of solar technology on a national level in the most recent
Report of the Standing Committee on Finance. While the industry has made
tremendous strides in the Canadian market in the past year, there is still
significant work to be done and each province faces different challenges.
Without a national incentive structure, some provincial governments have
developed policy infrastructures to support the deployment of solar within
their respective provinces. In Ontario, the implementation of the feed-in
tariff (FiT) and microFiT programs has increased employment and brought in
local manufacturing. Ontario's solar industry supports approximately 8,200
full-time jobs and more than 30 PV module and inverter manufacturing
facilities. Through the FiT program's first two years it faced a number of
implementation challenges, mostly due to a lack of visibility and an
inability of contract offers to keep pace with applications. The government
has recently halted the program while it reviews how FiTs should be
administered in 2012 and beyond.
Through this review Ontario requested that CanSIA, as the trusted voice in
the solar industry, provide feedback outlining how the program can be
improved. CanSIA members developed very specific and practical
recommendations for presentation to the government. I believe that these
actionable recommendations and the many in-person consultations between
industry proponents and Provincial government representatives will
significantly improve the design of the FiT programme for longer-term
sustainability. One of the main improvements we hope to see in the new FiT
programme is greater transparency, which will help all members of the value
chain.
While Ontario's solar incentive policies are far ahead of those of other
provinces, the aforementioned FiT review process is having a detrimental
impact on its industry. Most installers and manufacturers are in a holding
pattern until the new rules are determined and released, causing layoffs
across the industry and requiring solar professionals to either take
extended vacations or search for new employment outside the industry. The
work being done at the government and regulatory level appears to be
occurring in a manner that will allow the development of a more sustainable
FiT program, but until the policy framework is resolved the industry will
remain in a very challenging state of flux.
Each province is at a different state in terms of solar energy
implementation and each has very different goals, influenced by politics,
economics and other considerations. Without a nationally administered solar
energy directive, each province will continue to develop and administer its
own policies in accordance with its own political, economic and
environmental goals. This evolutionary development will greatly assist the
growth of the solar industry in Canada, but it will occur in a slower and
more fragmented manner.
The Ontario programme proved that FiTs are a very effective mechanism for
creating market demand, but they are only one of many tools that support the
effective growth of solar energy. It is hoped that jurisdictions outside
Ontario take notice of the benefits the FiT program has generated for that
province and implement funding programs with the same end goal: to further
bolster the solar industry across Canada.
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