What is the microFIT program?

The microFIT program is part of Ontario’s Green Energy Act. The program provides large financial incentives for individuals and companies to invest in renewable energy production.

Participants in the program sign a contract with the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), and the contract guarantees that the OPA will buy all the electricity that you produce, for 20 years, at a fixed price.

The program pays different rates depending on what your power source is. For small scale solar power projects like ours, the guaranteed rate at the time the program was launched, was 80.2¢ per kilowatt hour (what is a kilowatt hour?). But every two years, they review the program and make adjustments. The current rate for a system like ours is 54.9¢. (The new price schedule is available on the microFIT website.)

The Green Energy Act also introduced a related program called FIT, aimed at commercial and utility grade systems. The microFIT program is aimed at homeowners and small businesses.

The microFIT and FIT programs are among the most aggressive feed-in-tariff programs in the world. Because of the high prices they offer, and the 20 year price guarantee, they have sparked a huge amount of activity in the renewable energy sector in Ontario.

In the first six months of the microFIT program, there were over 8,400 applications involving solar power systems. Our system was in the first batch of 700 microFIT projects to receive approval, and we were among the first 180 connected to the grid.

In the Two Year Review Report, the government says that over 2,000 manufacturing jobs have been created, and billions of dollars invested in Ontario. Over 4,600 megawatts of renewable energy production has been added to the Ontario power grid.

For more detailed information about the program, check out the official microFIT and FIT websites.