I’ve been impressed with my friend Maruf’s drive to succeed and make a difference in Canada ever since I first met him years ago. He was living next door with my parents to improve his English, and over time, I got to know him well. Whenever he’s faced with a challenge, his usual response is a confident “No problem!”—and off he goes.
When my parents were in a minor car accident (hence my mother’s neck brace), Maruf and his wife didn’t hesitate to show up at our place—with a barbecue. In the middle of January. I snapped a picture of that moment because it perfectly captured his unwavering positivity and support.
A Conversation About Solar in Ontario
In recent years, Maruf has been asking me about the needs of PV systems in Ontario as he’s grown his successful electrical contracting business, Innowa Solar. On his latest visit, he brought along Mustafa, a construction expert with 30 years of experience in Ontario and overseas, to dive deeper into the topic.
I told them, “There are plenty of companies building and selling new systems, but finding people to fix older systems is tough. Maybe that’s where you should focus.”
A Problem-Solver at Heart
Maruf isn’t the type to shy away from challenges. When he was in Turkey, he lived near the Syrian border as the civil war broke out. The conflict caused widespread power grid failures, leaving people without electricity. Instead of standing by, he took action.
He designed, sourced, and built over 70 residential off-grid solar power systems, creating kits that included panels, an inverter, LED lighting, and batteries—all packaged in a way that homeowners could easily install themselves. Thanks to his initiative, families at least had access to lighting and a way to power essential electronics.
Taking Action in Ontario
Based on Boxbrite’s analysis of public portals over the years, I was pretty sure that many small and medium-sized systems in Ontario could use some attention.
I’ve also been considering creating a more comprehensive benchmarking report instead of just writing individual ones. So, I went through the public portals we’ve reviewed in the past and identified 142 systems totaling almost 24 MW, grouping them into 12 portfolios. I analyzed their multi-year performance but focused specifically on May 2024.
As expected, I found huge variations and plenty of issues that need fixing. My experience has shown that many of these problems have a payback period measured in weeks or months. In one case, a single 50 kW system appears to have lost nearly $100,000 over the last four years.
The Report & Next Steps
Here’s a link to the full report—and if you don’t want all the details, just click on the image below. It’ll take you to a page where you can access any of the 12 portfolio reports. You can probably guess what the green, yellow, orange, and red colors represent.
And if Innowa reaches out to you because your system has some problems—don’t be surprised! I’m hopeful that Maruf will make a real difference here, just as he did for those Syrian families who needed a way to keep the lights on.
