Rooftop solar installation
A grid-connected photovoltaic array on an Ottawa roof, from the engineer's review through the ESA authorization to the day it switches on.
Ottawa, verified September 2026
Residential solar in Ottawa
The federal Greener Homes grant and loan are closed. Ontario's rebate is open but rules out net metering. Here is how that changes the system you should build.
- The engineer's structural review and field review Ottawa requires, named in the quote
- Electrical work by a Licensed Electrical Contractor, with the ESA notification filed
- Both the rebate and the net metering case modelled from your own consumption
- A written warranty on panels, inverter, racking and roof penetrations, with who honours each
All services
Roof and structural assessment
The engineer's review Ottawa requires before an array goes on, plus the shingle and shading questions that decide whether to proceed at all.
Net metering connection
How an Ottawa array gets connected under a net metering agreement, what the credits are actually worth, and the 12-month expiry nobody mentions.
Home battery storage
Batteries paired with solar for backup and for load shifting, with the Ontario rebate rate and the reasons a battery may not pay for itself.
Monitoring, maintenance and repair
Keeping an Ottawa array producing what it was modelled to produce, and what to do when the inverter fails in year nine.
What an Ottawa homeowner needs to know before getting quotes
Three facts decide most of a solar project in Ottawa, and all three are frequently misstated in quotes. The federal money is gone: Natural Resources Canada lists both the Canada Greener Homes Grant and the Canada Greener Homes Loan as closed, the grant with 31 December 2025 as the last day to submit documents.
Ontario's rebate is open and it comes with a condition. Home Renovation Savings pays up to $5,000 for solar at $1,000 per kilowatt and up to half the cost, and up to $5,000 for battery storage at $300 per kilowatt hour. But the programme states that participants receiving it are not eligible for a net metering agreement, because the incentives are for load-displacement projects only. Taking the rebate and then signing a net metering agreement means repaying the whole rebate within 30 days.
And Ottawa requires an engineer. The City states that the design of a solar collector system and the on-site field review of its installation must be done by a professional engineer licensed in Ontario, with a building permit on top once the collector face area reaches 5 square metres. The permit exemption for low-rise housing depends on an engineer's assessment of the roof, so there is no route around it.
The resource itself is fine. The Canada Energy Regulator places Ottawa at 6.09 kilowatt hours per square metre, ahead of Toronto and every other major city east of the prairies. Snow, roof geometry and the paperwork are the constraints here, not the sun.
We are an information site. We set out what the work involves, what it costs and what to ask, and we connect you with a local licensed contractor who does the installation. We do not install solar ourselves.
Indicative ranges
Ottawa residential solar price guide (2026)
- $2.40 to $3.50 per wattInstalled cost per watt, before rebate
- $14,000 to $21,0006 kW rooftop array, before rebate
- $24,000 to $35,00010 kW rooftop array, before rebate
Indicative 2026 prices before HST for the Ottawa area. The Ontario rebate figures are the programme's published rates and are conditional on the system being designed for load displacement only, which forecloses a net metering agreement. Hydro Ottawa's connection charge comes back in a property-specific service layout quotation and cannot be estimated in advance. Ottawa residential solar price guide (2026).
How the work runs
- Decide rebate or net meteringThey are mutually exclusive under the current Ontario programme and they imply different system sizes, so this decision comes before the design rather than after it.
- Get the engineer's assessmentAn Ontario-licensed professional engineer reviews the roof structure and does the design, which Ottawa requires either way, and which also decides whether you need a building permit.
- Permits, then the ESA notificationThe building permit if the array is 5 square metres or more and not exempt, then the Electrical Safety Authority notification of work, filed before any electrical work begins.
- Connect and energizeThe distributor's service layout, the quotation and the payment, then installation, then the ESA Connection Authorization, which is the gate on switching on.
Areas we serve
We serve Ottawa, Barrhaven, Kanata, Stittsville, Orléans, Nepean, Manotick and rural Ottawa.
Guides
Ontario solar incentives in 2026: what is open, what has closed
The federal grant and loan are closed. One Ontario rebate is open, and it carries a condition that changes how a system should be designed.
Permits and approvals for solar in Ottawa
The engineer, the building permit, the ESA notification and the Hydro Ottawa connection, in the order they have to happen.