ecoENERGY Retrofit Program - Important Changes

Greetings!

Just a quick email to let you all know that if you want to take the opportunity to install one of our Solar Hot Water Systems on your home and receive the $1250 rebate then the last date you can have the energy Evaluation done is 1st April 2010.

See note below from Resources Canada that explains all the details.

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If you have the energy Audit done after this date, then all Solar Hot Water systems need to comply with a new standard. To apply for this standard will take approx 18 months and cost in excess of $25,000.

The new standard basically gives you a list of collectors and systems that produce in excess of 6 GJ per year. To put this into perspective, according to Retscreen, the program the ecoENERGY department developed, "Latitude51 Solar" collectors will produce approx 18 GJ per year (approx 1.5 GJ per month based on the Calgary Climate).

THREE times the amount the new standard sets!

There are many solar collectors out on the market and, in a way the new standard does have some benefits for people who don't wish to do some research into different solar collectors. However, the new standard is setting a minimum of 6 GJ per year which is very low.

Think about what Natural Gas costs per year right now about $6 per GJ.

A solar system producing 6 GJ at $6 per GJ = $36 PER YEAR!

Are you really going to spend $5000 or more on a solar hot water system to save $36 per year just because the solar system supplier meets the new standard?

No, we would not either, we do not see the benefit in spending $25,000 to meet this new standard.

Our collectors produce magnitudes of more heat than this for the best value we can find anywhere.

We will still be supplying residential Solar Systems to people who would like them but they will not be eligible for the ecoENERGY Retrofit Program if you have an energy Audit done after 1st April 2010.

When making your decision, you need to weigh up the benefits of a $1250 grant. Is it worth spending a $2000 or $3000 EXTRA on a system to get a rebate of $1250 ecoENERGY Rebate? More details on this new program will follow shortly in a newsletter.

The email below was received from CANSIA and explains the new rules and regulations.

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Message from Natural Resources Canada:

Solar Grants from ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes

Following consultation with CanSIA and other industry groups, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has recently made changes to the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program to clarify the eligibility for its solar domestic hot water (SDHW) systems grant.

If an energy advisor certified by Natural Resources Canada performs the pre-retrofit evaluation before April 1, 2010, SDHW systems in single family homes and eligible low-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) can have an energy contribution less than 6 gigajoules per year (GJ/yr) as long as the system includes solar collectors that meet the Canadian Standards Association (CAN/CSA) F378 standard or equivalent. For a list of eligible solar collectors, see the 'Glazed Water Heating Solar Collectors - Flat Plate Collectors' and 'Glazed Water Heating Solar Collectors - Evacuated Tube and Concentrating Collectors' sections of the List of Accepted Solar Collectors found at the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat Web site. Systems in CanmetENERGY's Performance Directory of Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems (Table 1 or 2) are also eligible.

For single family homes, if the pre-retrofit evaluation is performed on or after April 1, 2010, the SDHW system must provide a minimum energy contribution of 6 GJ/yr and be certified or in the process of becoming certified to the CAN/CSA F379 standard. Eligible systems must appear in CanmetENERGY's Performance Directory of Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems (Table 1 or 2). This Web page also explains the requirements for adding systems to the directory. The SDHW grant in a single family home is $1250.

For eligible low-rise MURBs, if the pre-retrofit evaluation is performed on or after April 1, 2010, the SDHW system must provide a minimum energy contribution of 3 GJ/yr per residential unit and have solar collectors that meet the CAN/CSA F378 standard or equivalent. System installers can receive more details and a Microsoft Excel-based calculator by completing a short form on the Office of Energy Efficiency Web site. If the collectors are not listed in the calculator, the installer must provide the system capacity using the standard day test defined in CAN/CSA F379 (150 litres per day per residential unit) by generating a TRNSYS simulation. The SDHW grant can range from $1250 for the installation of a system that provides 6 GJ/yr in a two-unit MURB up to a maximum of $12,500 in a 20-unit MURB.

Installers must supply the following information on the invoice: the manufacturer's name and model number; description of the system and number of collectors installed; and system total capacity in megajoules.

To be eligible for ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes, applicants must arrange a pre-retrofit evaluation, perform the work and have a post retrofit evaluation prior to March 31, 2011. The payment of grants is subject to the availability of funding.

Owners of larger MURBs (greater than 3 storeys or 600 square metre footprint, etc.) are not eligible for ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes, but may be eligible for either the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive or the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Small and Medium Organizations incentive.

For more information on the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program, visit:

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/home or call 1-800-O-Canada. You can also visit:
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/housing/home-improvements/5019 to find the Web links described above.

 

I hope you found this useful. If you have any suggestions for future topics, let us know and we will try to include them in future news letters.

Sincerely,
latitude51 solar