Customers, industry anxious to see new solar power program

The minister in charge of SaskPower is hurrying up a decision on a new rooftop solar program, but hundreds of people in Saskatchewan are waiting, stuck in limbo, in the meantime.

Marsha Kennedy was right in the middle of the process when SaskPower shut down applications.

“The contractor had been here, we were ready to go, and the program closed the day that he tried to apply for the rebate program,” said Kennedy.

She knew it was a possibility, weeks before Minister Dustin Duncan had said the program was filling up quickly, but Kennedy said she was still devastated when she heard the news.

Kennedy is retired and single, so she said getting together the money to pay for solar panels wasn’t easy — she said the debt was scary but doable. And while the minister has said there will be a program to replace net metering, it’s not clear what it will or won’t include.

Kennedy is concerned the new program won’t be as good and it could result in her not being able to afford the panels after all.

Reducing her carbon emissions and fighting climate change is big for Kennedy; she said that’s the main reason she decided on solar panels.

“It was really not because I might save money, which I probably will in the end with solar, it was because I didn’t feel I had a choice,” said Kennedy.

Duncan said one of the things being looked at in the review of a new program would be the cost. He said rooftop solar is more expensive to procure than large-project solar and the government wants to make sure the cost doesn’t get passed on to other SaskPower customers.

Kennedy seemed skeptical of that claim, saying she’d have to check the numbers herself, but also that people need to get away from thinking this action is only about saving money.

“It’s more important than that. And we have to get out of the mindset that all of this has to be cost-effective, or cheaper, or can’t be more money, because it’s going to cost us a lot more if we don’t do any of this,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy agrees with others who believe that a rooftop solar program shouldn’t have a cap. She said if the new program is announced and it isn’t “good” then it will confirm for her that the provincial government isn’t wanting to help people move forward on this issue.

Solar companies looking for a quick solution

The announcement that the net metering program was closing caught the solar industry by surprise, according to Kevin Bergeron, president and CEO of MiEnergy.

Bergeron spoke on Gormley on Tuesday morning.

Bergeron said the industry had a call with SaskPower on Wednesday and was told there would be almost two weeks until the program was full. Then the next day it was closed.

There 50 to 100 solar companies in Saskatchewan employing around 800 people, according to Bergeron, and he said they don’t have any products to sell right now.

He said he’s reassured that the timeline for a new program is being moved up, but he’s still advocating for a new program to be announced the quicker the better, and for it not to have a cap.

“Because, obviously as shown by the adoption of the net metering program in the last 10 months here, consumers really do want this,” said Bergeron.

He acknowledged that there is a cost balance to the situation, but said his customers are putting money down too.

“Our customers and the collection of solar customers in the province have invested $50 million into their own infrastructure that’s not borne on SaskPower’s behalf,” explained Bergeron.