Microfit programme in action

Jeff Green | Apr 15, 2010

David Daski with his newly installed solar panels.

When the Green Energy Act was announced in Toronto last year, the commitment to small-scale renewable energy projects attracted a lot of attention. Then, when the model for small-scale, home-based energy projects was announced in September, many individuals began looking at their buildings and fields and wondered if this would work for them.

David Daski of Mountain Grove was one of those people.

“We are in the process of developing our two properties off Highway 7,” he said of the work he has done along with his wife Linda Tremblay on the property, “and are planning to open a bed and breakfast later this year. We have always been concerned about the carbon footprint of our operation, so we looked carefully at this program.”

In the end, they decided to invest $65,000 to put in an array of fifty 200-watt solar panels on the roofs of the former restaurant and motels that are part of their properties. That makes them the first home business to invest in a ten-megawatt system, which is the maximum sized energy system that will be able to sell power back to the Ontario Power Corporation for a return of 80 cents per kilowatt hour.

The system went into place just under three months ago, and although they have yet to receive payment from Hydro, after a month the system had generated 1000 kw of power, which will yield $800 in revenue.

“Given that result we estimate a seven-year payback on our investment,” said Daski.

Armed with a contract committing hydro to paying 80 cents per kilowatt hour, and a 20-year warranty on the equipment, the Daskis will be making a profit of about $10,000 per year for 13 years once the system is paid off.

“Another factor that is important to us because of our environmental concerns, is that there are 1.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted for every kilowatt hour that is produced through conventional means, so the 1,000 kilowatts we produced in the first month saved close to a ton of carbon from going into the atmosphere,” Daski said.

In order for the system to be set up properly and qualify for the micro-fit programme, Daski depended on Eco-Alternative Energy of Sharbot Lake to handle the technical details and government paperwork.

“They installed the system on time, at budgeted cost, and provided excellent service throughout,” Daski said. “We are happy to have dealt with an established local dealer, which will no doubt be around for the long term.”

In addition to putting in the new solar panel system, David Daski and Linda Tremblay have been hard at work bringing their 175 acre property to the point where it can have a commercial life as an artistic and tourist operation.

They have spent several years improving the buildings and developing the extensive grounds on the property, which include a number of ponds and other features.

They have established cabins for rent by the week or the day during the tourist season, and are in the midst of completing the internal work on an addition they have built onto their century-old home, which will be a bed and breakfast/country inn by the end of this year.

Linda is an established stained glass artist, and David also works in stained glass, so they built a loft studio above the bed and breakfast. They plan to have the studio up and running in time for the Arden Artisans Garden Tour this July and the Craft Inroads Studio Tour in September.

Future plans include establishing a cafe and retail space on the property.

Environmentally conscious tourism, including cycle tourism and an interest in growing and sourcing food locally for the cafe and for use in the bed and breakfast, are part of the plans that Daski and Tremblay are developing.