Links and resources

Blogs, forums and other websites dedicated to solar power

• Solar Power Guide, a hobby website with a great glossary and lots of useful info
• Green Power Talk, an Ontario-based discussion forum for renewable energy, including microFIT
• Masters microFIT Solar Panel System, a blog about the experience of researching and setting up a 10kW system in Windsor in 2013 – lots of information all together in one place.
• The Sun, Wind and Water website, by Toronto solar pioneer, Mike Brigham
• Green Toronto, website and blog about energy efficient living in Canada’s largest city
• Beach Energy, a website for the community solar projects related to Kew Beach school
• Doug’s 4.6 kW DIY system – a page that shows how this man built a 4.6 kW ground-mounted array all by himself for about $10,000!
• Daily Home Reno Tips, a website that focuses on energy conservation and money saving ideas. They have a whole category of posts about microFIT, and lots of solar articles too.
• Clean Break, green technology blog by Toronto Star business columnist Tyler Hamilton
• Wind Works website, by renewable energy expert, Paul Gipe
• Northern Arizona Wind and Sun solar electric discussion forum
• A blog from Ontario solar power company Ethosolar — They have an excellent summary of the problems dealing with Hydro One since applicants were forced to get an offer to connect from their local distribution company (LDC) before being issued their microFIT contracts.
• A blog by the owners of a large ground mounted solar array in Ontario, full of many pictures and other interesting posts
• Solar Power Knowledge Project (blog)
• California Solar — an industry website about solar power in that state, with news and info, and links to companies
• Evergreen Solar — a nonprofit in the US dedicated to informing and helping people use solar power

Live status information and background info about other solar power systems

• The Horse Palace at the CNE (Canada’s first 100 kW solar array)
• Report about the performance of the Horse Palace system (PDF)
• Rooftop system at the Brigham residence, Toronto (5.7 kW)
• Microprodução Fotovoltaica. A website about a micro-solar power system in Portugal. I helped the owner, João Duarte, create his graphs based on the same tools as I used in this site. The site is in Portuguese, but you can click the British flag on the lower right to get a rudimentary translation in English.
• Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nevada (14 MW)
• Details and historical production info for a residential array in San Jose, California
• Background about the solar thermal system that powers the Sun Chips factory in Modesto, California (PDF)
• A directory of systems all using the “Fat Spaniel” monitoring solution

Co-op ownership programs for solar power

• Options for Green Energy (Full disclosure: I am a member of Options for Green Energy)
• TREC’s SolarShare

News coverage and press releases

• Early story about the announcement of microFIT and FIT
• Story about the high interest in microFIT and FIT after launch
• Article about the announcement of the first large-scale FIT projects
• Article about the launch of the 9.1 MW array near Napanee, Ontario
• Article about the expansion of Canada’s largest solar power plant near Sarnia, Ontario
• Press release about the planned 154 MW plant in Australia
• Press release about the Waldpolenz solar park near Leipzig, Germany
• Scientific American article about the construction of the Andasol 1 solar thermal power plant in Spain, the first commercial plant intended to use molten salt to produce power at night
• Article about the successful operation of the Gemasolar plant in Spain, using molten salt to produce electricity for more than 24 hours straight

Information about the microFIT and FIT programs in Ontario

• Official homepage for the microFIT and FIT programs
• Official Report from the two year review of the FIT and microFIT programs
• Price schedule for payments to microFIT participants (version 3.0 — in effect August 26, 2013)
• Detailed summary explaining the costs and payback of a microFIT project, at the Green Power Talk discussion forum
• Canada Revenue Agency page about the tax treatment for owning a microFIT system (hint: you can write off the purchase price on your taxes)
• Ontario’s Green Energy Act
• Wikipedia page about feed-in-tariff programs
• Detailed analysis of the costs and revenue involved in owning a solar power system

Books about solar power and the electricity system

• Chasing the Sun, by Neville Williams — the fascinating story of how he created the Solar Electric Light Fund and brought solar electricity to thousands of families in the developing world
• From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, by John Perlin — the history of solar power revealed, from its invention to the present day
• Electric Empire: The Inside Story of Ontario Hydro, by Paul McKay — the history of what was once the largest supplier of 100% renewable energy in the world, and how it became a greedy quasi-public corporation, fabricating forecasts of future demand to support its moves into coal-fired and nuclear generation. Ontario Hydro was so badly managed that eventually it was broken up by the government in 1998, 15 years after this book was published. Hopefully the people of Ontario will be done paying off Hydro’s debts in the next decade.

Components used in our solar power system, and hardware/software used to create this website

• Sharp 175 watt panels (PDF)
• Xantrex GT2.8 inverter (PDF)
• SG-View, for real-time monitoring and logging of Xantrex grid tie inverters
• Edgeport/1, serial-to-usb cable for connecting the inverter to a PC (PDF)
• Wordpress, content management system for simple websites
• More details about the plugins and PHP code used in making this website

Solar industry companies and associations

• Our Power, a solar and renewable energy advocacy and facilitation group
• The Canadian Solar Industries Association
• Solar Electric Light Fund, a US-based not-for-profit organization focused on bringing solar power to communities in the developing world
• Sharp Electronics Corporation, maker of solar panels, including ours
• Xantrex, maker of inverters, including ours

Information about solar electricity (photovoltaics – PV)

• The SMA company has a great website for kids that explains the basics of solar electricity
• Federal government data about the amount of sunlight we get annually in Toronto
• Information about the launch of the microFIT and FIT programs, including a comparison of the amount of sun in Ontario, Germany and California
• A “CD-ROM” of information, posted online by the Solar Power Labs at Arizona State University
• Blog post and report from Google, about the effectiveness of rain at cleaning solar panels
• Wikipedia page about photovoltaics
• Wikipedia page about the timeline of solar cell development
• Wikipedia page about solar cells
• Wikipeda page about thin-film cells
• Wikipedia page about concentrating solar power for increased efficiency
• Wikipedia page about maximum power point tracking in solar electric systems
• Wikipedia page about solar trackers, that move panels to always face the sun
• Wikipedia page about the theoretical efficiency limits of silicon PV technology
• Wikipedia page about grid-tie solar power inverters
• Wikipedia page about the amount of energy the sun gives out
• Wikipedia page about photons (the basic particles of light)
• A new technique for creating ultra thin wafers of silicon, that might reduce costs in the solar PV industry greatly
• A Q&A roundup with several providers of solar PV systems

Information about the environment and electricity production

• Archived copy of the federal government’s One Tonne Challenge website, about reducing each person’s greenhouse gas emissions
• Conference Board of Canada estimates of greenhouse gas emissions per capita in Canada, in 2005
• Bullfrog Power’s methodology for calculating the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases from the electricity system
• Bullfrog Power’s spreadsheet with specific numbers for Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production

Information about non-PV electricity production, and Ontario’s electrical system in general

• Wikipedia page about solar thermal energy
• A PDF report about a pioneering US effort to build a solar thermal plant that used molten salt, a precursor to the successful Andasol 1 plant in Spain
• Official government explanation of the “Ontario Hydro Debt Retirement Charge” (The cost of Darlington nuclear power station was equal to about half the debt of Ontario Hydro at the time it was dissolved by the provincial government.)
• Projection of the Debt Retirement Charge over time, that used to show it ending around 2018, but as of 2013 doesn’t even give a projected end date
• A more damning assessment of the Debt Retirement Charge, including its effect on pricing in the electricity sector, from Canadian Geographic Magazine — the Debt Retirement Charge info is about halfway through the document, in a sidebar called Nuclear Welfare
• The Canadian Nuclear FAQ, a website by a Canadian nuclear physicist
• Darlington nuclear power station Q3 2009 report (PDF), and Q2 2009 report (PDF)
• Uranium info from the US Department of Energy
• Detailed analysis of the operation of a natural gas turbine power plant, from the US department of energy (PDF)
• US Army technical manual about natural gas plants (PDF)
• Natural gas prices (PDF)
• Official Portlands Energy Centre website
• Article from Eye Weekly about opposition to the Portlands Energy Center natural gas turbine in Toronto, available through an archived copy of the stoptheplant.ca website
• Ontario Power Generation, which is owned by the province, and runs most of the electricity generation in Ontario
• Indepentent Electricity System Operator, the organization responsible for running Ontario’s electricity “market”
• Bullfrog power, a green energy supply company

Information about electricity in general

• Wikipedia page about amps
• Wikipedia page about volts
• Wikipedia page about watts
• Wikipedia page about electrons (the basic particles of electricity)
• Wikipedia page about direct current (DC)
• Wikipedia page about alternating current (AC)
• Wikipedia page about the “War of Currents,” in the early days of electricity generation, which led to the dominance of AC power
• US Department of Energy information about the average household use of electricity in the United States
• Wikipedia page about grid-storage of electricity
• Wikipedia page about “capacity factor,” relevant to comparing different power sources
• Wikipedia page about “levelized energy cost,” relevant to directly comparing different power sources (see our own comparison of our rooftop array, a utility-scale solar power station, a gas turbine power station, and a nuclear power station )

References about the energy payback time for solar power systems

• Environmental Impacts of PV Electricity Generation, a paper presented at the 21^st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, in 2006 (PDF)
• Questions and answers about solar panels, from Urban Ecology Australia
• Energy payback details for solar PV technology, from the US Department of Energy
• Wikipedia page about “net energy gain”