Current Federal Government Decisions

Posted by Mike Holm on October 30, 2009

We are having a resurgence in interest in solar water heating and PV systems in North America. There are a few reasons for this. Aside for the general acknowledgment that something needs to be done about climate change, for the first time since the 80′s we have some decent subsidies from most levels of government.

In Ontario the Provincial govt matches the Feds $1250 and for a limited time the renovation tax credit is with us. This allows for a nearly 50% subsidy for the system and along with the increased publicity more people feel the deal is a good one. 20% subsidies are not enough and talk alone is not enough. The subsidies have made manufacturers and new installers believe that they should enter the market at this time.  Unfortunately this also includes the usual groups of cheap vacuum tube collectors which come with a world of promises, most of which will never be met, but that is another story.

In the 70′s and 80′s, when we had our last big explosion in solar installations, the subsidies were impressive. When both Canada and the US had changes in governments in 80 and 84, those subsidies died and so too did all but a couple of manufacturers in Canada. At the time nearly all the manufacturers were Canadian and the technology was home grown as well. When we abandoned solar most government support either died or was severely cut.

Europe was somewhat different. The Germans, who had little natural resources to burn, decided that it was time to try to build an industry which now has over 100,000 people employed. Canada might have 3-4000 at this time. The techniques used in Europe mesh very well with the boilers used for heating every home. The technology is similar and the installers of boilers understand solar much better than our heating installers do (many have never soldered a pipe and only install forced air). We, as a country make choices which are much more individualistic than community oriented. This is why we can only see a short time into the future when it comes to support for technologies which don’t have very fast paybacks for the purchaser. It is also why we demand lower taxes and then complain when there is not enough money going into the educational or health care systems. We do not see very far ahead.

Since 2000 the government of Canada has decided that it will support one company, far above all others, and do so blindly. The official line is that, if you have an EcoEnergy assessment after some undisclosed time in 2010 any solar water heater installations wanting to get EcoEnergy funding must  be  CSA tested and approved. The heads of some of the divisions in NRCan were assured that there was a lot of option for consumers but this is not true. As of July 2009, there was only one middle of the road system flat collector system available in Ontario (there is one in Alberta) and it is the one the NRCan supported so strongly. There is also 2-3 cheap vacuum tube systems, one of which just barely managed to get the certification and in my opinion, does not deserve it.

There will be some more systems getting certification in the coming months but if all the systems currently on the list for testing are approved, it will only number 14-15 and this is not enough. The difficulty in getting a CSA approval and the time needed to do it means that any manufacturer has to be willing to wait for 3-5 years just to get to a level playing field with the other companies. Other countries do not put as many restrictions on their own industry, but we do. With the exception of these few companies, this government would rather see offshore companies (good quality or bad) get a toe hold here than build our own industry.

Boss Solar has a perfectly good, well made product with above average performance and good reliability and we strive to make as much of the product in North America as possible. This is a lot better than our most well known competitor who keeps having to change pumps on a regular basis and the company still gets the government favouritism. Anyway, I vent  and that is what a blog is for……more to come.

Comments

One Response to “Current Federal Government Decisions”

1. Matt T. says:

   May 5, 2010 at 10:32 pm

   So does that mean that government institutions can not use unapproved
   solar installers?