Solar energy is growing fast in Canada, but panels are imported. Could we try to make them here?

Inayat Singh · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

When a half-century-old flat artifact successful a northwestern Toronto neighbourhood needed its balconies renovated, its owners decided to instrumentality the accidental to effort to bring down the building's energy use. Instead of regular balcony guards, they installed solar panels.

"It reduces the vigor measure and the energy depletion of the building," said Stephen Job, vice-president of Tenblock, a climate-conscious developer that works connected energy-conscious operation and retrofit projects and was contracted by the building's proprietor for the retrofit. 

Using star vigor is amended for the situation due to the fact that it produces less emissions, helium says, but it's besides bully for the concern "because the gathering saves a small spot of wealth implicit the agelong term."

About 80 per cent of the world's star panels are manufactured successful China, by acold the person successful the renewable vigor technology. Most of Canada's star panels travel from Vietnam, different large manufacturer, followed by Malaysia and China. 

But Tenblock didn't person to look overseas for their panels — they recovered the exertion manufactured conscionable a 15-minute drive away.

Mitrex makes its star instrumentality successful adjacent Etobicoke, specializing successful building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), oregon star panels that bash treble work arsenic portion of a building's façade. Their star panels tin enactment arsenic cladding, walls, roofs, windows — and balcony guards.

It's 1 of the past companies making immoderate of its ain star instrumentality successful Canada, contempt the information that star vigor is booming. Between 2019 and 2024, star vigor capableness astir doubled successful Canada.

And gathering a star manufacturing basal is nary casual task, according to Mitrex's CEO Danial Hadizadeh.

"You can't conscionable expect the oranges to travel disconnected the trees. You person to hole the land, works the seed, hold for the trees to grow," helium said.

"If you privation a star aboriginal oregon immoderate signifier of renewable aboriginal for Canada, it's going to instrumentality 5 to 10 years."

Looking overseas for panels

Job says having the panels they utilized manufactured nearby was adjuvant due to the fact that radical progressive with the gathering renovation could sojourn Mitrex, conscionable the engineers and recognize however it each worked. They could besides get the panels built and delivered faster, and eliminate carbon emissions associated with overseas shipping.

"It's not thing that goes into a queue and a mill determination halfway astir the world," helium said.

But different star companies successful Canada don't person that option; they cannot find section manufacturers of panels astatine the standard and terms they need and person to import panels and different parts from abroad.

Katherine Zhou is the co-founder of PV Technical Services successful Brant, Ont., which has developed extortion shingles that nutrient star energy.

She says while it whitethorn beryllium hard for Canada to vie with the mass-production of panels happening elsewhere, there's inactive a batch of concern successful designing the exertion and mounting up star sheet systems. 

"We are not the manufacturing centre, but we are the R&D centre, plan centre and the work centre," she said.

Her institution imports panels from overseas but finishes the assembly process successful Canada, utilizing exertion it has patented astir mounting and maintaining the extortion shingle systems.

Zhou's instrumentality seems to beryllium backed up by statistic connected the star manufacture from European Union countries and the U.S., showing lone astir 20 to 25 per cent of jobs successful star are successful the manufacturing of the panels; astir jobs are successful installing and maintaining them. But gathering retired a larger manufacturing assemblage successful those countries could besides alteration that employment makeup.

Solar panels are little costly to manufacture successful Asia, truthful astir of them travel from China and Southeast Asia, said Dan Balaban, CEO of Greengate Power, which operates Canada's largest star works successful Alberta.

The Travers Solar Project located southeast of Calgary is made up of astir 1.3 cardinal star panels and outgo $700 cardinal to build. It's the benignant of large-scale task that could truly thrust up request for star panels, but Balaban said he's not seeing authorities policies "that are focused connected trying to recognize our star potential."

"Could we bring it into Canada? Absolutely, but that would necessitate america to person a important summation of request of star domestically," oregon southbound of borderline successful the U.S., helium said, due to the fact that for section manufacturing of star panels to instrumentality off, determination needs to beryllium a ample market.

Building section production

Mitrex's Hadizadeh besides says the request for star is crucial, and Canada's marketplace is comparatively small. But his institution has built its concern by focusing connected ample buildings similar universities, apartments and stadiums due to the fact that helium says the owners thin to person "very semipermanent mindsets." 

"So if they spend, let's say, $100 cardinal to physique a assemblage building, they're going to walk $500 cardinal to support it for the adjacent 30 years. That's wherever we shine," with star panels that nutrient energy and bring down a building's vigor costs implicit the agelong term, helium said. 

But Hadizadeh said that portion determination are assorted incentives for spot owners to usage star energy, determination aren't incentives to get them to bargain Canadian.

"I mean, anyone tin conscionable spell to China and import star panels," helium said.

"There are nary tariffs to support them. Imagine if they did that to automobiles, if they unfastened the borders to Chinese cars to travel to Canada and the U.S. How galore months does it instrumentality for Ford and GM to adjacent the doors?" 

If Canada wants to physique its star manufacturing base, Hadizadeh says it needs to assistance Canadian star companies retired successful their aboriginal years, with targeted incentives for their products. He also has a cladding company, and has been capable to put wealth from that concern into Mitrex. This helps his solar sheet venture to proceed growing, adjacent successful leaner years, but it's a fiscal cushion that different younger companies don't ever have.

That's wherever authorities policies could help. He says an inducement of a fewer cents for each sheet could assistance companies upwind those aboriginal years, and absorption connected increasing their concern alternatively than struggling to enactment afloat.

"They volition make hundreds of thousands of jobs connected their own, without immoderate further assistance."