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The following information assumes you have completed your registration on the OPA website. You will need to complete an application separately for each address where you want to install a solar system.

My microFIT Home Page –> click on Create a new application

The following information for completing the microFIT contract application includes my own personal application data. Much of the information on the form will be pre-filled in. In most cases you should be able to used the supplied information.
My application was approved on January 6, 2010.

Enter the first 3 characters of your postal code – K7P

Select your Local Distribution Company from the list (check you hydro bill and see who bills you) - Hydro One Networks Inc.

Section 1 – General Applicant Information

1. (enter your name here) - Edward Peterson
2. (select a name for your project) - PetersonHomeSystem
3. (enter your contact information) -
   Ed
   Peterson
   your@emailaddress.com
   1181 Gladstone Way
   Kingston
   Canada
   Ontario
   K7P 2J5
   613-389-0758
   613-888-4207
4. (I left this blank)
5. (applicant type) – Homeowner
6. (GST registrant) - No

Section 2 - Project Eligibility Requirements

7. (existing OPA contract) – No
8. (local distribution company. This should already be filled in for you) - Hydro One Networks Inc.
9. (local distribution company account information. Check your hydro bill for the following information) –
   xxxxx-xxxxx (your account number with the hydro company - see your hydro bill)
   Edward Peterson
   1181 Gladstone Way
   Kingston
   K7P 2J5
   ON
10. (converting from net-metered?) – No
11. (address of proposed project. Your home address.) -
    1181 Gladstone Way
    Kingston
    K7P 2J5
    ON
12. (renewable energy technology) – Solar photovoltaic (PV)
13. (nameplate capacity. The system size discussed from your Site Analysis) – 3.6
14. (connection request. Select a date about 60 days from today) – 01 02 2010
15. (incremental project?) – No
    a. – no check
    b. – no check
    c. – none selected
    d. – blank
    e. – blank
    f. – none selected
16. (grants etc.) – No
17. (battery back-up) – No
18. (brief description) – This is a home rooftop solar grid-tied system.

Section 3 – Declaration

Check the following 3 boxes and click Submit Application

If you have any difficulties or questions, just give me a call  613-888-4207

Done!

Yes! If you own your building, then you can apply for a contract and install a system under the microFIT or FIT program. If you lease your business space, you can arrange to lease the rooftop space from your landlord, and apply for a contract as well.

The solar panels have a 5 year warranty against manufacturing in defects, a 90% production 10 year warranty and a 80% production 25 year warranty. This means that should any defects that are manufacturing related become apparent during the first 5 years, the panel will be replaced under warranty.

 

If you move, you have a number of options:

1. You may sell your contract and equipment to the purchaser. This can result in your property being more attractive than a property without a contract.
2. You can keep the contract and equipment, and lease the rooftop from the purchaser. This arrangement is acceptable to the OPA.
3. You can end the contract with the OPA and remove the equipment from the property you are selling. The equipment could be installed in your new home under a new contract with the OPA.

There is no penalty if you terminate your contract with the OPA, however if rates change as expected in the future, earlier contracts are expected to be worth more.

You own your own contract with the OPA. Payments are made directly to you.

You will need to register on the OPA's website at: http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/ , then apply for a contract. This should be done once you have received your free site analysis. register here...

The conditional offer of microFIT contract provides you with a guarantee that you will receive a microFIT contract provided that you meet the conditions of the offer. (taken from OPA microFIT PROGRAM OVERVIEW)

If you follow the OPA and our installation guidelines, you have the offer in hand before you invest anything in a solar system. We guarantee that the systems we install will meet all the condition requirements to get your contract approved.

The systems we sell feeds directly into the power grid (called Grid Tied). You do not directly use the power your system makes, as at present time, it costs less to buy the power you use than you can sell to the OPA. This may change in the future and your site configuration can be changed for your best advantage at that time.

You are paid based on your LDC’s regular billing cycle. In most cases, this is monthly. You can have your payment direct deposited into a bank account. We recommend that you have it deposited into your loan account if you have financed your system, eliminating the need to manage loan payments separately.

You connect to the grid through your Local Distribution Company (LDC) (Utilities Kingston, Hydro One, etc.) The LDC installs a meter that records the amount of power you produce. Your payment is made based on the meter reading.

No. The OPA contract is to buy what you produce. There is no minimum and no penalty for production levels. You simply are paid on what you produce.

Your system has a manufacturer’s rating, which covers the maximum power it can produce. This is the amount that your site analysis system quote is based on, so your system can only produce this amount or less. On overcast, rainy, foggy, snowy, hazy days your system will produce less power and can reach full power on clear days.

Your system can be making money in as little as 4 weeks. The actual time is dependent the length of time it takes to complete each step as described. We try and do our parts as quickly and efficiently as possible, however some steps do require working with other people and organizations that are beyond our control. To begin, the OPA’s mandate is to process applications for contracts within 30 days. This is potentially the longest wait, however even during this time, progress is being made if the steps described are being followed.

1. Book a free site analysis on our website here...
2. Using the site analysis, register and apply for a contract with the OPA through their website: www.microfit.powerauthority.on.ca (there is no cost and we can help you compete the application)
3. Arrange financing for your system based on your site analysis quote. Let us know when you have your financing approval, so your parts can be ordered.
4. When you receive your Offer for Contract from the OPA (this means that you will get a contract once your system is installed, inspected and connected), call us to arrange an installation date.
5. We will manage the rest of the permits, inspections and details for you.
6. Accept your OPA contract. You will begin earning income from the date you were connected to the grid.

First we photograph the location for the solar system. Next, using a Solar Pathfinder and computer software, we analyze the location for shade, sun, solar panel elevation, pitch and inclination. The software then produces a report showing the typical annual system production and revenue. With this information we can calculate how much you can earn in relationship to the cost of the system. We provide all this information to you, in a simple to understand report.

Note: We are waiting to receive our new Solar Pathfinder, so only basic site analyses are currently available. These include system sizing and income projections.

No. You can install a smaller system now, and the add onto your contract (called an incremental project), by increasing your system in the future

A typical home system can make about $3,600 per year, while 10kW systems can make over $13,000 per year! We will provide you with a free site analysis that will show how large a system your site can accommodate as well as the projected income.

Under the microFIT program, you can install up to 10kW at your home, cottage, farm, business, church, etc. These systems tie into the power grid through the power lines that currently feed into the building. Systems larger than 10kW fall under the FIT program and are restricted to locations where they can be feed into a main line of the power grid.

There are currently no announced plans by either the provincial government or the OPA to limit this offer, however here are a few things to consider:

• Spain launched a similar program and had to shut it down because of overwhelming response.
• During the first 2 months (Oct/Nov 2009) the OPA only accepted applications for FIT and microFIT contracts to get an idea of interest. During this period, the OPA received over 2,700 applications, 1,200 of which were microFIT applications. The OPA posted on their website “Due to very positive program response, we will not be able to reach our 30-day application review target during this program launch period. We ask for your patience during this initial period.”
• As more companies, organizations and individuals enter the energy generator market, and as domestic production brings down the equipment cost, we expect that the OPA rates will be lowered, or new contract offers will become limited.

The following calculations show our OPVPower3600 rooftop solar system. The system contains 20 solar panels that cover approximately 250 square feet of south facing rooftop. The system outputs 3.6 kW (kilo watts) of power and reduces carbon emissions by over 4,474 kg per year.

There are 3 purchase options:

1. Purchase the system outright for $15,768 plus taxes. The system will make $71,834 +/- over the next 20 years.
2. Finance the system with $2,605 down payment. The system income will pay off the balance of the loan in 5 years and make $53,508 +/- over the next 20 years.
3. Finance the system with nothing down. You will have to supplement the loan payments for the first 5 years with $579 per year. The system will earn $53,294 +/- over the next 20 years.

With option 3, you will not see any income until your 6th year. Option 1 & 2 begin paying you during the 1st year. As you can see, financing the system over 5 years does not cost a lot, less than $200 and the loan interest is an expense that can be used for a tax advantage.

Our complete system is inexpensive, for a number of very good reasons:

• We are in the solar power business. We are not interested in selling you a solar system, so that we can make a sale. We are interested in squeezing every watt of energy we can out of each system. The power plants our clients install are limited to the manufacturers rated output. This means, we want to maximize the amount of power produced by each solar plant. To do this we are constantly tweaking our systems, with the latest technology to achieve this end.
• Our system meet the Ontario content requirements and helps provide Ontario employment, at a time when it is needed. We also source components from around the world to bring you the best component/cost mix.
• Our system reports on the output of each panel, allowing clients to monitor for any panel inefficiencies. Because income is tied to panel production, you want to ensure each panel is operating to its maximum capacity.
• Our system converts power at the panel, thereby increasing production by as much as 25%! This can mean a huge increase in revenue over the life of the system.This increase is not shown in income calculations as the actual benefit varies from system to system, so expect more power!
• We have based our pricing on a large scale system. Rather than giving price breaks to big business, we have brought these discounts down to the home/small business owner, so that more people can afford and benefit from the microFIT program.

These are some of the reasons we sell the systems we do, and why they are aggressively priced.

While my first though was to sell to businesses with flat roofs only, I became more green over time. I wanted to be able to share the systems I was designing with everyone, so I developed the systems we now market for the home owner.

We sell and install pitched roof (typical house sloping roof) systems, flat roofed commercial systems and also ground mounted, solar tracking systems. If you are lucky enough to have a location to install a ground mounted tracking system, for about 25% increase in cost, you can gain about 35 - 50% increase in production.

PVWatts.org has a calculator that you can use (using Trenton or Ottawa stats) to see how a solar tracker can increase your harvest.

The (rooftop) solar systems we install have no moving parts, and therefore require very little maintenance. We offer a maintenance contract wherein we will monitor the system for you and respond automatically when the system issues a warning. If you are maintaining the system yourself, most work over the OPA contract period will be covered under warranty, so it is simply a matter of logging a service request here on the site if you need to book a service call.

OntarioPVPower service contracts mean we manage the systems we install, eliminating the need and expense of contracting out system maintenance. We have the equipment, replacement parts and expertise to keep your systems performing at it's peak. This means higher yields which means more revenue. OntarioPVPower also monitors all system panels during operating hours so we are aware of component faults and can respond quickly.

Register and login to review system maintenance contract rates.

Our systems use a DC - AC Inverter at each solar panel. These inverters have a lower switching threshold than typical central inverters. This means that more power is converted and sent to the meter.

As an example, in a typical 50 panel solar system, if each panel is only producing 10 watts of DC power, due to sunrise, sunset or cloudy conditions, this means the system is producing 500 watts. If the inverter requires a minimum of 1kW to activate, then this 500 watts of power is lost. If each panel inverter is calibrated to convert all power produced, then the full 0,5 kW is sent to the meter.

Panel inverters can increase production by 5 - 25%. On our example systems, this can produce $160 to $800 in increased revenue per year!

Our system is modular, allowing fast warranty replacement of defective components to minimize component downtime. Should a panel not be performing as expected, it can be replaced without having to take the whole array offline. This means that downtime is restricted to the defective panel alone, and online trouble identification allows us to know what part to bring to replace.

In a typical solar system, it might take a month (a complete billing cycle) to realize there is an issue with something in a system. The complete system would need to be shut down, as each panel was tested to identify the faulty one. This could result in as much as a week's loss in production, or more, in addition to the lost production during the previous period.

While the cost of monitoring each panel through the microinverter is significant, the cost of not monitoring each panel is higher.

Each solar panel's production is monitored in real-time, allowing fast identification of nonperforming components for fast replacement, ensuring maximum system production. In addition to indicating component failure, we can also identify issues that arise that require attention as well.

• For example, after a hailstorm, we can notice any abnormal reduction in production from a hail damaged panel, or
• the panel targeted by a flock of seagulls, or
• other, natural event...

Keeping informed allows us to produce more electricity per panel, than unmonitored systems.

Through the Internet, the real-time production of each panel is tracked, providing ongoing reporting of the complete system production. The Enlighten website, also let's the site administrator know when a panel's production falls below a preset level. This allows maintenance to be done quickly and efficiently, minimizing lost production time to a few hours rather than a few months.

Yes, unlike traditional DC solar systems that have a centralized inverter, our systems can easily be expanded, allowing businesses or individuals to start small and build up.

The OPA has provisions that allow adding on to an existing contract (incremental projects). Our modular design means expansion is as simple as plugging in more panels. Our system is truly plug'n play.

Your solar system is an asset. Do not think of this an another renovation expense to your home. You are buying your own utility company that will pay you monthly for the next 20 years.

• As long as you own your building, you can operate your system and collect the revenue it generates
• Contracts are assignable, so that they may be carried on by other people than the ones that originated the contract.
• If you sell your home, business and/or building, you have a couple of options:

1. Systems that are not permanently attached to the roof can be taken with you. Our flat roof-mount ballast system means that the system is not permanently attached to the roof or building, so it can be packed up and plugged in at a new location.
2. Sell your solar system as an additional income source. The OPA contracts are transferable, so the new owner can continue on under your contract.
3. Keep the contract and lease rooftop space from the new owner. You continue to own and operate the solar system and pay the new owner a fee to access the equipment and for the equipment to be located on their roof.

Anyway you decide, your solar system will continue to produce power for a long time. Studies have found that solar panels will continue producing power after 45 years. These are long-term assets!

For complete and latest details, refer to the Ontario Power Authoritiy's website.

The information provided here is only meant to be used as a guideline, and may be out of date by the time you read it. All attempts have been made to provide accurate information.

Using the Enphase suite, your power-plant's production can be monitored during operating hours. This means that component irregularities can be responded to quickly, allowing the system to operate at peak efficiency. As long as the issue is not critical, service can be performed during off hours as well, so that power production interrupting can be kept to a minimum.