I have a cottage up north (near Parry Sound) and currently it's powered by hydro and natural gas. I am very tempted to eventually move over to off grid sources, such as solar panels and propane appliances. I was just wondering what alternatives there are to propane? I was looking at these guys: http://www.uniqueoffgrid.com/en-Ca/Products/Product-Line-up_/Off-Grid-Ranges.html and they sell them close by. Before I take the plunge though, is there anything I should know?
Natural gas would be my preference since you already have it. Changing from propane to nat gas is a matter of orifice size. I'd guess your stove guy can do it easily. If you are considering going off the nat gas supply as part of getting completely off grid, you can change the orifices back to propane at that time. Or if propane and nat gas don't suit you well, there is kerosene. Might stink, but would work well.
A friend had kerosene and he switched back pretty quickly. Maybe I'll just stick with natural gas for now and focus on solar/wind for generating some power. I still need to look into any potential cost savings with propane over natural gas.
Wood for heat. There's millions of acres around you. Wood can cook and heat your water and your cottage.
Does Ontario offer any help with the purchase? Incentives or tax credits, etc? The beauty of solar is that you can go modular and add panels as you find time or see fit. Just make sure to get an inverter that can handle what your max might be. There are some true solar experts around here and hopefully they'll chime in TnAndy Nadja