Ontario Commercial Solar Incentive Changes to $770/kW: What Businesses Should Know
Ontario businesses still have a strong commercial solar opportunity, but the incentive amount changed on June 30, 2026.
Under the Save on Energy Retrofit program, the prescriptive incentive for small- and medium-sized rooftop solar projects greater than 10 kW AC is now $770 per kW AC, down from the previous $860 per kW AC. This is a commercial, industrial and institutional program—not a residential solar rebate.
The reduction makes early project planning even more important, but it does not remove the business case.
Eligible systems greater than 10 kW AC and up to 1 MW AC can receive $770 per kW AC. Micro-generation projects up to 10 kW remain eligible at $1,000 per kW DC. Systems larger than 1 MW may still qualify, but the incentive is capped at 1,000 kW AC and 50% of total eligible project costs. Review the official Save on Energy Solar PV incentive page.
The numbers remain meaningful. A qualifying 100 kW AC project could receive a calculated incentive of $77,000. A 250 kW AC project could calculate to $192,500, subject to program eligibility, project-cost caps and final approval.
That capital reduction can materially shorten payback.
The strongest commercial projects are not sized simply by filling every available square metre of roof. They are sized around the facility’s daytime electricity use. The Save on Energy solar offering is for behind-the-meter, load-displacement projects, meaning the generated electricity is used to offset the building’s own consumption.
Warehouses, manufacturing facilities, hotels, multi-residential buildings, institutions, retail properties and other sites with consistent daytime loads can be strong candidates.
A payback of only a few years may be possible for well-matched projects with suitable roofs, high self-consumption, competitive installation costs and available incentives, but it should never be presented as a guarantee. A proper model must include interval consumption, utility rates, system production, roof conditions, capital costs and financing.
Applications must also be handled in the correct order. The Retrofit application must be submitted before the business enters into a binding project commitment, and the project requires both program pre-approval and local distribution company connection approval.
Smarter Power applies the same load-first thinking used in our residential SBSS projects to commercial solar: measure the load, identify when costs occur, right-size the equipment and show the assumptions behind the return. We review interval data, roof capacity, utility requirements, incentives and financing to build a clear investment proposal.
Businesses can also explore the IESO Save on Energy Funding Finder, then speak with Smarter Power’s commercial energy team before issuing a purchase order. The incentive may have decreased from $860 to $770 per kW, but delaying a viable project can still mean continuing to buy every daytime kilowatt-hour from the grid.
