Ontario experiments with zero-interest loans for renewables
It’s a pilot project for now, but one that could expand across the province. Ontario’s largest transmission/distribution utility, Hydro One, has partnered with local utilities in the communities of Mississauga, Brampton and York Region to test out a zero-interest loan program — called the PowerHouse Initiative — that supports the use of residential renewable-energy systems. Homeowners in the area can get access to zero-interest loans ranging from $2,000 to $50,000, or a rebate for installing qualifying solar PV, solar hot water, geothermal and small-wind systems. If the one-year program is successful and broadly expanded, this could have a dramatic impact on renewable-energy adoption in Ontario.
The repayment period for the loan depends on the size. Loan that are around $2,000 to $5,000 must be paid back in three years. A $50,000 loan can be repaid in up to 10 years. Alternatively, a customer can opt for a rebate instead — 10 per cent for the first $5,000 of project cost, followed by 15 per cent for the next $15,000 and 20 per cent on the next $30,000. It doesn’t completely eliminate the barriers to adoption, but it goes a long way toward helping.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca