If you’re looking for an up-to-date breakdown of the solar industry in Canada and the jobs that are expected to be created in the coming years, check out this labour survey by Kelly Sears Consulting Group, which was commissioned by the Canadian Solar Industries Association and Canada’s Electricity Sector Council.

Key findings:

• Doubling of jobs by 2011.
• Industry shortage of installers right now.
• By 2011 there will also be a shortage of system designers, project managers and engineers.
• Recommendation to increase training and relevant curricula.

My guess is that most of these shortages and job opportunities will be created in Ontario, given the province’s Green Energy Act and progressive feed-in tariff program.

Burnaby, B.C.-based solar PV maker Day4 Energy has cut 95 staff to meet the “realities” of the new solar economy — whatever that means. According to a cached version of its Web site the company had 280 employees as of Dec. 31, 2008. The cuts bring them to about 185.

“We are seeing continued strength in demand for our product in Europe and remain confident in our contracted sales for 2009, however, given the broader economic environment and seasonal weather patterns we are being proactive in managing our business to avoid inventory build-up,” said Day4 Energy co-founder and president George Rubin.

Fair enough, but a third of staff? Talk about hacking off a limb or two. (more…)

My Clean Break column on Monday takes a look at a Vancouver-based company called MSR Innovations that has developed an interesting way of reducing the cost of installing solar on residential rooftops.

Analysts talk about the likelihood that solar PV module costs will fall 35 per cent in 2009 because of competition from thin-film technologies and an oversupply of polysilicon. This is good news for those contemplating solar, particularly developers with multi-megawatt projects on the drawing board. But in the residential market, even in Ontario where a 42-cent feed-in tariff is offered, solar PV is still too expensive and the payback too far off.

MSR Innovations has come up with a new type of roofing system designed specifically as an enabler of solar PV. (more…)

I know there’s been a lot of talk about “grid parity” for solar PV without subsidies, and in which year this milestone is likely to be reached. The date I’ve heard the most is 2015, and even then, only in places with lots of sun and expensive electricity — like California. One could argue this is a pointless discussion, given that conventional forms of electricity generation are also subsidized (though this isn’t transparent) and don’t take into account externalities like the impact of pollution on the environment, health and the climate. But I digress.

At the Canadian Solar Industries Association two-day annual conference in Toronto today Andrew Kinross from Navigant Consulting said he expected grid parity in Ontario to be reached between 2020 and 2023. This is based on an expected increase in fossil fuel prices and the expectation that CO2 emission credits will be valued at $70 per ton. While 2020 might sound like a long time, one has to consider that Ontario currently has relatively inexpensive electricity prices in a North American context (and certaintly compared to Europe) and there are less hours of sunlight over a year compared to, say, California.

As much as 12 years sounds like a long time, I don’t see it that way. (more…)