We design, build & install solar energy solutions

KAJK installs both: a solar-only setup, or solar backup with energy storage. You notice the difference during a power cut and in the evening, when the panels stop producing solar power. Battery sizing and backup circuits are on the solar battery storage and home battery backup page.

It starts from two things you already have: the property's address and a year of electricity use. Book it with the form or at (613) 869-8254.

Natural Resources Canada's photovoltaic potential database rates a south-facing array at latitude tilt (about 45° here) at 1,200 kWh per kilowatt a year in Ottawa, a little ahead of Toronto's 1,163. That figure already allows for system losses, through a performance ratio of 0.75.

Output follows the seasons. The same array makes about 125 kWh per kW in July, 62 in December and 57 in November, the weakest month, so with net metering the credit built up in summer is drawn down through the darker months.

Ottawa airport averages 231.9 cm of snowfall a year (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1991 to 2020 normals), yet snow on the panels costs less output than you might think. On a rooftop array at its research centre in Varennes, Quebec, NRCan's CanmetENERGY measured snow losses of 1.64% of the year's output in 2020 (Baldus-Jeursen et al., IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, July 2023). The authors caution that it is one site, and that arrays whose snow can't slide off can lose double digits a year. In some winter months of that study, cold days with clear panels lost less than summer days did, because panels run at a higher voltage in the cold.

Tilt is where design helps. NRCan's figures for panels set 15° steeper than latitude give 67 kWh per kW in December against 62, for a lower annual total of 1,140. On a roof the pitch mostly decides the angle; on a ground mount, KAJK can set it.

The cost depends on the system's size, what it is mounted on and how it connects, so KAJK's proposal prices your system once the assessment is done. The clearest Ottawa figure from a primary source is Hydro Ottawa's own customer story, published 2024-02-20: a 14.4 kW, 37-panel rooftop system installed in December 2023 “cost just over $30,000 plus HST, not including other costs to upgrade the electrical panel and Hydro Ottawa's connection.”

Size moves the price most, and size comes from your use. The Ontario Energy Board sets electricity prices around a typical household using 700 kWh a month, or 8,400 kWh a year. At NRCan's 1,200 kWh per kW, covering that would take about 7 kW of panels, and your own bills will give a better figure than the provincial average.

Your local utility adds its own costs. For systems of 12 kW AC or less, it quotes its share of the work in a Service Layout and takes payment before starting. Above 12 kW AC you need a Connection Impact Assessment, with fees that vary by system size. Every published price for Ottawa and Ontario, with what each one covers, is in our guide to solar panel cost in Ottawa.

Energy agencies describe three practical reasons, and in all three the property still has solar afterwards.

The 20% rule is a rule of thumb from equipment sellers' guides; Ontario's net metering regulation and utility connection rules don't contain it. BLUETTI's guide, for example, defines it as “designing a solar system to generate about 20% more energy than the average monthly consumption”, to cover losses and cloudy days.

In Ottawa that shortcut double-counts. NRCan's 1,200 kWh per kW figure already includes system losses, and net metering limits what oversizing earns: O. Reg. 541/05 requires the system to generate “primarily for the generator's own use”, and credit carried through 12 straight months of bills is reset to $0. Size from your last 12 months of use, plus any load you know is coming, such as an electric car or a heat pump.