Nunavut offering rebates to power homes and cabins with renewable energy
Cabin owners can get $5,000 and homeowners up to $30,000 to install solar or wind systems
People in Nunavut are being offered rebates to help cover the cost of renewable energy systems for their homes and cabins, with money that comes from the federal carbon tax. (Photo by Markus Spiske/Unsplash)
The Nunavut government is offering money to people who install solar or wind energy systems for their homes and cabins across Nunavut.
Homeowners can apply for rebates that cover $30,000 of the cost, while cabin owners will be able to access up to $5,000.
Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq, who was speaking as the minister for the environment, announced the Renewable Energy Support Program in the legislative assembly on Tuesday.
“I think there’ll be a lot [of interest] in the cabin one right off the bat,” he said in an interview.
So far, there is no limit on how many people can access the grants, Savikataaq said.
The money for the two grants comes from the carbon tax collected by the federal government. The goal is to reduce Nunavut’s carbon footprint, Savikataaq said.
The money will be offered as a rebate, meaning applicants need to foot the costs upfront.
The Renewable Energy Cabin Grant is being administered by the Department of Environment, while the Renewable Energy Homeowners Grant is offered by the Nunavut Housing Corp.
The carbon tax raises the price of almost everything in Nunavut, and the GN is going to give that money to the few people in Nunavut who are wealthy enough to own homes and cabins.
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Sounds fair.
With a significant rebate being introduced for using solar and wind, there is now pretty much no reason for folks not to be building off-grid cabins/homes.
Nobody would seriously suggest relying entirely on solar/wind yet, you do need a generator as a stand-by source of power. Run on solar/wind when it’s available, but for periods where it isn’t sunny or isn’t windy you will still need a generator. It does mean that you can turn off the generator a fair bit of the time though.
Once again — nothing for this place as it is a forgotten community, many cabin owners wish to access the program but nobody in the department know how to help cabin owners. Coppermine is always in a sad state of affairs at a community level. God bless the people