Canada needs more clean power to meet growing demand, while aiming for net-zero emissions to fight climate change.

Many Canadians want to install rooftop solar panels to help. But while that can lower their electricity bills, they can’t actually get paid for it — because many jurisdictions limit the power generation of a rooftop solar system to the amount you consume, and customers can only be compensated in bill credits, not cash.

Hydro-Quebec puts it this way: “The customer’s goal must be self-sufficiency and not sales.”

Darren Chu, managing director of Calgary-based Utility Network and Partners, says similar rules in Alberta are frustrating.

“We have lots of customers who come to us and say, ‘Well, I have all this roof space and I’m only allowed to cover a small portion of it with solar panels because that’s all my consumption will allow me to do. How come I’m not allowed to export more?’” he said.