One Thousand “Rooftops” in Ontario

Friends of solar energy in Ontario have another reason to celebrate. By the end of September, over 1,000 microFIT projects were connected to the grid and generating electricity.

The concept of 1,000 rooftops has significant resonance in the solar community. In the early ‘90s, Germany led the world with its 1,000 rooftops campaign. After more than doubling that goal within the life of the program, Germany aggressively increased its solar ambition. The next generation of the campaign called for 100,000 rooftops. Today, Germany continues to lead the world with approximately 10 GW of installed solar PV capacity.

The future of solar PV is bright in Ontario as well. This market is on the cusp of tremendous growth. Between the province’s RESOP and FIT programs, there is already more than 1.2 GW of solar PV under contract. With continued political support, ClearSky Advisors expects that installed PV capacity will exceed 3 GW by 2015.

So, even though microFIT installations are not exclusively rooftops, we feel that 1,000 small-scale solar installations in the province is a significant landmark. It is evidence of how far Ontario’s solar industry has already come and an indication of how very far it may yet go.

–Illustration photo by muenzer