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905-555-0167 Site assessment

[ Commercial · Industrial · Agricultural ] / Hamilton & Southern Ontario

Solar sized to your load. Payback first.

Barns, warehouses, plants and fields. We model production from your meter data, put the payback on paper, and only then talk about building.

System range

10–250 kW

Output per kW

1,150 kWh/yr

Mounting

Roof or ground

[ 01 / Site assessment ]

Book a site walk

Concept site: this form doesn't send anything.

A long red dairy barn whose whole south roof is covered in black solar panels, farmland in front

Sample projectDairy barn180 kWWellington CountyPayback 10.8 yrs

[ 01 / Sample projects ]

Sample systems.

Sample systems to show the range. Every figure comes from the calculator below, with the same assumptions.

A long red dairy barn with its whole roof covered in solar panels

Dairy barn roof

Sample project
Location
Wellington County
System
180 kW
Yearly output
207,000 kWh
Payback
10.8 yrs
Aerial view of a warehouse roof covered in rows of solar panels

Warehouse roof

Sample project
Location
Stoney Creek
System
60 kW
Yearly output
69,000 kWh
Payback
13.1 yrs
Rows of ground-mounted solar panels beside a soybean field and a grain bin

Ground mount by a grain dryer

Sample project
Location
Glanbrook
System
240 kW
Yearly output
276,000 kWh
Payback
10.8 yrs

[ 02 / Payback ]

Payback calculator.

System size

100kW

How we estimate
  • Installed cost: $2.60/W up to 100 kW and $2.15/W from 100 to 250 kW, the midpoints of Natural Resources Canada's survey ranges, before tax.
  • Output: 1,150 kWh a year per kW in the Toronto–Hamilton area (NRCan).
  • Value: 17.29¢ per kWh, the Ontario small-business per-kWh rate including per-kWh delivery (OEB). Larger customers pay different rates.
  • Our assumptions: 25 years of output, losing 0.5% a year. No incentives, financing or tax treatment included.
Estimate, before tax
Cost per watt$2.60
Installed cost$260,000
Output a year115,000 kWh
Value a year$19,884
Simple payback13.1 yrs
25-year value$468,387

[ 03 / Built for ]

Where it works.

Farms

Barn roofs and spare land, sized around milking, cooling, drying and pumping loads.

  • Dairy and poultry barns
  • Grain drying
  • Ground mount on marginal land

Warehouses & plants

Big flat roofs with steady daytime loads, the easiest place for panels to earn back their cost.

  • Ballasted flat-roof arrays
  • Roof load check
  • Work around operations

Retail & offices

Smaller roofs where every panel has to earn its place, with production modelled against your hours.

  • Strip malls and plazas
  • Professional offices
  • Owner-occupied buildings

[ 04 / Process ]

The process.

  1. Site walk

    Roof or land, the electrical room, the meter. We ask for a year of bills.

  2. Production model

    Output by month from NRCan data for your site, against your actual load.

  3. Utility approval

    We apply to your utility for the connection before any equipment is bought, as the net metering rules require.

  4. Build

    Scheduled around harvest, milking or shifts. One site lead from start to finish.

  5. Monitoring

    Production is tracked against the model, and you get a report if it falls short.

[ 05 / Rules ]

Net metering rules.

Who qualifies

Ontario's net metering rules cover any customer of a local utility, home or business, farms included, if the system runs on a renewable source and makes power mainly for your own use. There is no kW cap in the regulation, but your utility has to approve the connection.

O. Reg. 541/05 ↗

What a kWh is worth

Power you send to the grid is valued at the same per-kWh rates you pay and becomes a credit on your bill. Credits carry forward for up to 12 months, then expire. They are never paid out in cash.

ontario.ca ↗

Apply before you buy

You have to apply to your utility and get approval before buying or installing equipment. We prepare and file the application.

ontario.ca ↗

Business incentives

Save on Energy's Retrofit program lists incentives for rooftop solar that offsets a business's own use: $1,000 per kW DC up to 10 kW, then $770 per kW AC up to 1 MW, capped at 50% of project cost. We check whether your project qualifies before you count on it.

saveonenergy.ca ↗

[ 06 / FAQ ]

Owner questions.

What does a commercial system cost?

Natural Resources Canada's survey puts commercial rooftop solar at $2.00–3.20 per watt for 10–100 kW systems and $1.90–2.40 per watt for 100–250 kW, before tax. The calculator above uses the midpoints. The site assessment gives you a written price.

Who can use net metering?

Ontario's net metering rules cover any customer of a local utility, home or business, farms included, if the system runs on a renewable source and makes power mainly for your own use. There is no kW cap in the regulation, but your utility has to approve the connection.

How are exported kWh valued?

Power you send to the grid is valued at the same per-kWh rates you pay and becomes a credit on your bill. Credits carry forward for up to 12 months, then expire. They are never paid out in cash.

Can our roof hold the panels?

We check the roof structure and its remaining life before we quote. If the roof needs work first, we say so in writing.

Will the build interrupt the business?

We plan around your operation: harvest, milking, shifts or opening hours. The electrical tie-in is the only step that needs a short planned shutdown.

[ Site assessment ]

Walk the site. Then decide.

We look at the roof or the land, your meter and your load, then send a written production model and payback before you commit to anything.

Concept site: this form doesn't send anything.