(File photo/CJME News Staff)

By CJME News

Net Metering Program

Solar energy company critical of SaskPower suspending net metering program

Sep 19, 2019 | 10:35 AM

The president of a solar company in Saskatchewan said SaskPower’s decision to suspend its net metering program in the near future kneecaps its ability to meet demands for renewable energy.

“We’ve got thousands of customers who have requested quotes and we don’t have a way to sell them a solar system and connect them to the grid,” said Miguel Catellier, president of TruGreen Energy.

On Wednesday, SaskPower announced it’s fast approaching the 16-megawatt capacity limit for the Net Metering program, which offers rebates on solar installations and pays customers for surplus energy sold back to the electrical grid.

When the program was approved in November, the Crown corporation said it would accept applications up until it reached the capacity limit or by Nov. 30, 2021.

“It’s sooner than we anticipated but it is in line with what we’ve been saying all along,” said SaskPower communications person Joel Cherry. He said there is no timeline for resuming the program as a review into its fiscal sustainability is underway.

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Cherry said there’s a limit to how much power the corporation can accept, and that the system is also “fairly costly.”

The government offers a rebate up to 20 per cent for the installation of solar systems, and when it comes to distributing credits for power sold back to the grid, Cherry said SaskPower pays the credits at retail price, not at cost.

“If we’re going to be adding renewables to the grid, net metering is not the most economically efficient way to do it,” he said.

Cherry said in late July, the federal government announced funding to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint.

So far in September, SaskPower has received more applications than all of August, he added.

Catellier said net metering is essential because it allows a customer to connect their solar system to the grid. It’s something he said thousands of people want to do to cut emissions and save money. He calls it a standard practice across North America and the world.

But an indefinite hiatus on additional interconnections will devastate more than 50 businesses like his and put hundreds of green energy jobs at risk, he said.

“Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of systems that we sell are grid-tied systems,” Catellier said.

“Now we have this period of time from the end of September until possibly the spring (where) we don’t know if they’re going to have a net metering program that will allow people to put up solar panels, let alone selling systems within that time and servicing customers.”

Cherry said business would not stop immediately because there’s still a backlog of customers waiting to have solar panels installed.

He added SaskPower still has its Power Generation Partner Program, which allows customers to generate renewable power and sell it back to the grid. That program is for larger projects, between 100 kilowatts and one megawatt.

— With files from 980 CJME’S Andrew Shepherd