Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Is anyone concerned with this solar excitement.

 

Current prices are about 5.6 to 8 cent per KWH. The government is paying people with solar panels ect 80 cents per KWH. This seems really excessive.

 

Does this make sense? Can we expect hydro to jump that much. Why is our government taking taxes from the masses and giving it to the few? I understand the whole global warming talk and utilizing green power. Does it come down to deregulation of generators now everyone can do it instead of the people owing the generation. I am not sure this is sustainable.

 

What does everyone think of solar?


Views: 377

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

If Pythagoras (cira 600BC) developed nuclear energy, we would still be watching over his waste today. Is that the legacy you want to leave.

For those that think $5 a year per family in Ontario is a lot of money maybe they should look at the debt retirement charge on your Hydro bill. This is the cost of going nuclear, How about 5 bucks a month. 60% of my bill was distribution charges, this is so high because of the great losses in bringing the energy from the power plant to your home. It costs the hydro company nothing to bring the power off of my roof or out of my back yard and into my house. The power you use is already subsidized. These subsidies go towards fat paychecks for the people who run the industry and are used to wine and dine the people who are behind the decisions to make sure great programs like the microFIT do not work, it keeps their checks fat. Why pay 10 microFITs a million dollars over 20 years when you can use that money for part of one persons bonuses for a year. Why use clean energy when we can spend billions on storing our nuclear waste. There is nothing wrong with our current technologies as long as we leave the cost of cleaning up after their use to our children. (Smog, tar sands, nuclear waste, They say if a natural gas plant blows up it will take a few blocks with it. Remember they said three mile island couldn't happen. Maybe to save money we can design a couple more reactors just like the Maple reactors that cost us millions and have been shelved by the Harper government.
Just in the almost four months my small 8 module microFIT has been running, My generation has saved 1142 lbs of carbon going into the air. How much would it cost you to remove that carbon out of the air once it has been put there by a coal plant or oil field.

Dan
I think anybody who thinks this current or some future Ontario government won't find a way to break these "contracts" and dramatically reduce the prices they're paying hasn't been paying attention to the way governments have been operating for the past... um... decades?

I wish people luck but my bet is that within the first 6 or 7 years of the plan, a whole lot of people will be bankrupted or severely hurt financially and a lot of panels will be on the market at firesale prices.
I guess the way I look at it, when on July 7, 2010 at about 11 AM Ontario Energy costs were 28 cents/kWh, I would rather the 58 or 80 cents go to Ontario residents rather than MB, QB, or US businesses. Current prices that the consumer pays is only 5 to 8 cents but demand pricing pushes that over $1/kWh at times (summer of 2008). On average the price is only 2 to 5 cents to buy but the peaks are what costs big money. For more info on demand pricing visit: http://ieso.ca
Can anyone show me some solar installations that have been productive and running for 20 years? I don't have a problem with whatever the gov't wants to spend to encourage alt energy. I do have a problem investing $100,000 in solar technology that will be out of date in less than two years.
Solar is actually a fairly old technology, Einstein won a Nobel in the 1920's for his paper he wrote in the early 1900's, Bell laboratories first sold them in the 50's. There is a system that was installed in 1986 and still running. You can see it and learn more about it if you visit the Kortright Center west of the 400 just off Rutherford.
Looks like the price drop is slowing down everyone who was looking at putting a solar system on their farm....I think solar could have a place but I want to business to be sound and not too expensive for consumers...

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

$7 Million to Grow Canada’s Agriculture Tech Sector

Smarter production is the goal of the HARVEST agri-tech accelerator that’s investing in cleantech and agricultural companies to help them scale up their businesses and strengthen the country’s economy and supply chains. Nine start-ups from coast to coast will receive an investment of up to $750,000 and critical business mentorship from Ontario Genomics, Genome Alberta and Genome Prairie to bring their products and production methods to industrial commercial scale, as soon as possible. Thanks to up to $7 million of funding through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s ACT Accelerator, HARVEST is sustainably diversifying Canada’s economy by helping these innovative companies get their game-changing solutions to market here and overseas: ABAzyne Bioscience (Saskatoon, SK) is modernizing cold-weather crop protection with a bio-spray for grapes and other tender fruit. ALT TEX (Toronto, ON) is transforming food waste into biodegradable fabrics for the fashion industry. B.Nature Biotech (Sa

Ontario Plowmen's Association Vows to Keep 2027 International Plowing Match in Lambton County on Track

The Ontario Plowmen's Association says it is working to maintain partnerships, address concerns, and keep planning efforts moving forward following reports that the local volunteer committee has withdrawn from hosting duties.

Cdn. beef sector receives $4 million from Ottawa

Additional markets for Canadian beef and veal is the goal of federal funding distributed to the livestock sector

Rigas Karamanos Wins Les Henry Award

Dr. Rigas Karamanos has been named the 2025 Les Henry Award recipient for his long-standing contributions to soil science, agronomy research, and agricultural education in Western Canada.

Farmers receive less of the food dollar: study

Farmers continue to receive less of the food dollar, even as consumers pay more for their groceries, says the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan. Its latest Farmers and Food Prices Report indicates the trend has not changed much since the organization began analyzing six products in 2021-22. “Our data continues to show a consistent story,” said president Bill Prybylski. “Food prices are rising, but the farmer’s share is actually shrinking.” The report, which was released in June for 2024-25, actually showed a little bump in the farmer share of two products:retail pork and canola oil. “I was a little surprised that some of the numbers have actually reversed, but when you think about it, I guess it makes sense that canola prices have rebounded a little bit compared to where they were,” Prybylski said. APAS tracks the farmer share of several food products by comparing the retail price with the producer price for the initial commodity. These include a 675-gram load of

© 2026   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service