Social Housing

Social housing providers can now reap the benefits of renewable energy savings with cash incentives for solar hot water.

"Until now, solar hot water has been a bit of luxury item," says Project Manager Liz Kelly. "But with the current incentives available, it’s now a really affordable energy option and we’re really keen to help social housing providers participate in the SolarBC program."

SolarBC’s Social Housing program is funded by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resourses and delivered in cooperation with Natural Resources Canada’s federal ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program. This collaboration provides a one-stop service to B.C. applicants who plan to install a qualifying solar water system at an eligible property. For social housing providers, SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000.

To further fund the cost of installs, Vancity is offering an ecoEfficiency loan, with payments that are matched to your energy savings, so no net additional operating costs in paying for energy saving upgrade:

www.vancity.com

"It’s Vancity’s aim to help organizations get past the financial barriers to eco-efficiency upgrades & solar thermal installations," says Maureen Cureton, Green Business Manager, who explains that Grants typically have significant lag time, whereas their loan is processed more quickly. "This way the housing society can get on with saving energy, carbon AND money." These are not profit-making loans for Vancity, according to Maureen, who says that by lending – rather than granting – they can leverage their community dollars to support more organizations.

SolarBC social housing incentives are available to March 2011. All multi-unit affordable and social housing providers in B.C., including not-for-profits and housing co-ops, are eligible under the program.

How much is the SolarBC incentive for Social housing?

The SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000. The incentive is calculated as follows: Performance Factor x Incentive Rate x collector area = anticipated incentive amount. Performance Factor is the predetermined factor for the collector installed. This factor can be found on the List of Accepted Collectors. The performance factor attributed to the collector that you have selected will be valid as of the date of reception of your CDI-2008 application.

Incentive Rate is the incentive per m2 for each collector type. Find the collector rate on the Incentive Rate table. Area is the total installed collector area in square meters. In the case of social housing and not-for-profit applicants, the total project funding from all levels of government is limited to 100 per cent of eligible project costs.

Who qualifies for the SolarBC incentive?

Affordable and social housing owners and operators in B.C. including not-for-profit social housing entities who qualify for a financial incentive for the installation of a solar water system under the federal ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program is eligible for the SolarBC program.To qualify for the SolarBC program, an applicant must first be approved for a Contribution Agreement under the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat program.

How do I apply for the SolarBC Incentive?

An applicant must submit to NRCan:

Both federal and provincial forms must be submitted together to ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat.

N.B.: An applicant does not have to submit any information to SolarBC.

NRCan will review these forms and will inform SolarBC of its decision as to whether or not to fund the project. Once it receives confirmation that the project will be funded by NRCan, SolarBC will then issue a program acceptance letter to the applicant.

When do I receive my SolarBC incentive?

Once the project is commissioned and the amount payable under the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat is approved by NRCan, NRCan will inform SolarBC program administrators that it is initiating payment of the rebate to the applicant under the terms of the NRCan Contribution Agreement. The SolarBC program administrators will then initiate the SolarBC incentive payment to the applicant.

Will information from my application be kept private?

Yes. Signed BCSEA Consent Forms authorize NRCan and BCSEA to share information. It will be managed in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in British Columbia and the federal Access to Information Act and Privacy Act.

As public funds are used to support the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat and SolarBC programs, projects that have Contribution Agreements may be posted on NRCan's and/or SolarBC web sites. The information posted may include the name of the recipient, type of system installed, location of installation, projected system output, government contribution amounts and expected or actual date of commissioning of the system.

Whom can I contact with my questions?

For more information about this program, please contact:
nharris@solarbc.ca

For ecoEnergy Program Eligibility and Qualifying Products, please contact:
email: ecoenergyrhp@nrcan.gc.ca or fax: 1-613-943-6517.