The cost of energy to produce solar hot water across Canada is about 7¢ a kilowatt hour, which is comparable to grid energy. Grid energy, averaged across Canada, is about 7¢ or 8¢ a kilowatt hour. It's less in Quebec and higher in places like the Maritimes. The challenge is that the consumer who chooses to do this has to spend money up front to buy the system to get the energy savings in the future. So what we need to do is bridge that gap, to help them bridge the gap, to get the payback time shorter and shorter and shorter as the industry grows and expands and get economies of scale.
On October 18th, 2010. See this statement in context.