That means for a 10kW system I'm looking at $20k USD in Canada vs. $6600 USD in Australia. That's such a huge difference that 5-10% cost reduction in Canada would barely make a difference at all. I have serious doubts that any Canadian household could recoup the cost of a big solar install over the lifetime of the panels vs simply investing that money in ETFs.
Perhaps the situation is different in the US?
Also I doubt that you can compare Australian and Canadian installations that easily. Most of Australia is a lot closer to the equator meaning that the same panel will have a higher average output there than in Canada.
Anyway, I'm not in the US. My question was a general one about taking advantage of these economic troubles, treating them as an opportunity for someone to make a profit rather than simply regarding them as a problem for everyone.
The Canadian price seems a bit high, comparable with high cost Norway (where I live). The online calculator I have just checked is offering a 6.5 kWp system for about 10 kUSD, so your 20 kUSD would buy 13 kWp. I know why it's expensive in Norway, skilled manual labour costs are high, is that the same in Canada?
It's similarly difficult to justify though. At the sorts of electricity prices we had in Norway before 2022 it would take 20 years to pay back but if the trend to increasing rices continues that could fall to as little as 7 years.
The costs I gave are for the ratings of the panels themselves. They don't include differences in production due to sunlight hours. If you include those I wouldn't be surprised if the Australian figures were closer to 10x better than Canada once you factor in the sunlight hours.