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Solar Power Business Plan
Individuals, farmers, food processors, and others have been investigating the opportunity to use solar photovoltaic equipment to generate clean, renewable energy under Ontario’s Renewable Energy Standard Offer Contract.
There are three main types of Solar PV Installations in Canada:
- Residential up to 10kW
- Farm / Food Processor – Commercial 10kW to 1MW
- Large Scale Commercial Over 1 MW
Most farm and food processor scale projects fall into the 10 kW to 1 MW size range.
Before you begin you should decide whether or not you are ready for the risks involved by completing a Self Assessment
You also need to consider the following:
- Consultants? – when should I get one.
- Environmental assessment
- Community Acceptance
Next Steps
You have taken the self assessment, and reviewed all of your options and you have decided that a solar energy project may fit your farm or food processing operation and you would like to know if your site is appropriate.
Suggested next steps:
Use the RETScreen program Investigate site data from the Ontario and Canadian Solar Atlases.
Talk to your broker about your insurance options
You may also find this technical guide useful: A Guide To Preparing Renewable and Alternative Energy Projects from a Technical Perspective
A proliferation of media hype, inventions and experts/consultants in the renewable energy field has made it is quite easy to make poor choices. To achieve all the desired objectives of a project, considerable knowledge and experience is required, usually best achieved by hiring a qualified expert/consultant. This guide will provide advice and assist with avoiding many of the common pitfalls, which often side track those new to the field of project management applied to renewable energy.
Write your business plan. A budget template for Solar Energy is also available.
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