The Canadian Market for PV

With its numerous incentives for renewable energy-an attractive feed-in-tariff (FIT) chief among them-Ontario is quickly becoming a hotbed for solar photovoltaic development. Yet despite the recent flood of activity in the province, the Canadian market as a whole has struggled to truly take off.
At the end of last year, Canada's installed PV capacity totaled just 94.57 MW, although this amount represents a huge jump from a year earlier, when the total was only 32.72 MW. Of the 61.85 MW installed in 2009, 50 MW was in Ontario. Much of this rapid growth can be attributed to the province's passage of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009 (GEA), which included a FIT for renewable energy, including solar photovoltaics. However, there are other advantages of developing solar projects in Canada, Elizabeth McDonald, president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA), stressed at the Global Markets: Europe and North America session at the Intersolar North America Conference & Exhibition, held in July in San Francisco. For one, she said, despite popular misconception, Canada has plentiful solar resources.

"People get cold (weather) and solar resources confused, and they shouldn't- there's a great opportunity in Canada", she said, adding that the country's solar resources correspond well with its demand-which are both high in the summer months.

In fact, some parts of Canada have enough solar resources to compete with the world's top PV markets. "Many people don't realize it, but Ontario actually has more sunlight than the largest solar-producing nation in the world-Germany," Brent O'Connor, a spokesperson for renewable energy developer Atlantic Wind & Solar, tells Solar Industry.

McDonald also noted that Canada's proximity to the U.S. and its well-established transportation links make the country a strategic location for solar development. Ontario, specifically, has an advantage, because its major urban centers are within close reach of large populations in both Canada and the U.S., says Blair Patacairk, senior investment consultant at OCRI, an Ottawa region member of the Ontario Technology Corridor (OTC). The OTC is divided into five regions: Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo, London and Niagara.

"Within a two-hour flight of any one of those (cities), we'll hit about 200 million people," he tells Solar Industry, adding that this area includes not just Canada, but also the East Coast of the U.S. and the Chicago metro area. In addition, "Because we have such a great working relationship with the United States-the biggest bilateral trade agreement in the world-our economies are very connected," he explains.

Industry executives in Canada point out that the country enjoys financial stability and a resilient economy. "We have a very stable financial system," McDonald emphasized. "In fact, Canada got through the recession very easily. We felt it, but not much."

Source: Solar Industry