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ALBERTA'S CLEAN ENERGY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM — CEIP
Go solar with no money down — and pay for it through your property taxes.
CEIP lets Alberta homeowners finance up to 100% of a solar installation and repay it gradually on their property tax bill. As a CEIP Qualified Contractor, Shield Solar manages the entire application for you — from pre-qualification to final inspection.
100%
OF PROJECT COSTS FINANCED
$50,000
MAXIMUM FINANCING
20 yrs
REPAYMENT TERMS UP TO
$0
PENALTY TO PAY OFF EARLY
What is CEIP?
The Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) is Alberta's version of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, administered by Alberta Municipalities and offered through participating cities and towns — including Calgary. It's designed to remove the single biggest barrier to going solar: the upfront cost.
Here's the core idea: your municipality advances the funds to pay for your solar installation, and you repay it as a line item on your regular property tax bill — at a fixed interest rate, over a term matched to the lifespan of the upgrade. Because a quality solar array produces power for 25–30 years, your energy savings run alongside your repayments from day one.
CEIP is financing, not a rebate. You repay everything you borrow. What makes it different from a bank loan is how it's structured — and those differences matter.
Tied to the property, not to you
The financing attaches to your home, not your personal credit. Qualification is based primarily on your property and tax standing — not a traditional credit check or your debt-service ratios.
Fixed rate, locked at signing
Your interest rate is fixed for the full term the day you sign your CEIP agreement. Rates are set by each municipality — in Calgary, current estimates sit in the mid-5% range, while some Alberta communities offer as low as 2–3.5%.
It can transfer when you sell
If you move before the term ends, the remaining balance can stay with the home. You disclose it to the buyer, who continues the payments through their property taxes — and inherits the lower power bills that come with them.
Pay it off whenever you like
There's no penalty for early repayment. Many homeowners use CEIP to get their system installed now, then pay down the balance ahead of schedule as savings accumulate.
One honest caveat
CEIP is delivered municipality by municipality, and each community sets its own interest rate, budget, and intake windows. Programs can fill up — some Alberta municipalities are currently waitlisting or have closed their intakes. That's exactly why applying correctly, completely, and early matters. We track intake status across the region and will tell you straight whether CEIP is currently available at your address, and what your alternatives are if it isn't.
ONE CONTRACTOR. ONE APPLICATION.
CEIP covers more than solar — and so do we.
Shield is an approved CEIP Qualified Contractor for solar PV, solar thermal, insulation, and windows & doors. Bundle multiple upgrades into a single project and a single application — making the most of financing up to $50,000, instead of leaving it on the table with panels alone.
Solar PV
Solar Thermal
Insulation
Windows & doors
STEP BY STEP
How the CEIP process works — and where we come in
-
1
Pre-qualification
You submit a short pre-qualification form through myCEIP.ca to confirm you and your property meet the basic criteria — things like being current on your property taxes in a participating municipality.
How Shield Solar Helps
We confirm your municipality's program is open before you spend a minute on paperwork, walk you through the pre-qualification form, and flag anything that could slow down approval.
2
EnerGuide home evaluation
A certified energy advisor completes an EnerGuide evaluation of your home. It benchmarks your home's energy performance and confirms which upgrades qualify.
How Shield Solar Helps
We coordinate the evaluation booking and — drawing on our 20 years of building science experience — help you interpret the results. And because we're CEIP qualified for insulation and windows as well as solar, if the evaluation flags those upgrades, we can fold them into the same project rather than sending you off to find another contractor.
3
System design & project application
You choose a CEIP Qualified Contractor and submit a project application to Alberta Municipalities detailing the system, costs, and expected performance.
How Shield Solar Helps
This is the heart of what we do. We assess your roof, shading, and 12 months of power bills, design a code-compliant system sized to your actual usage, and prepare the complete project application — accurate pricing, specifications, and production estimates that meet program requirements the first time.
4
Agreements
Once your project is approved, you sign a Clean Energy Improvement Agreement with your municipality and a Project Agreement covering the work itself. Your fixed interest rate locks in here.
How Shield Solar Helps
We review the terms with you in plain language — repayment schedule, what happens if you sell, early payoff — so you sign with a clear picture, not a leap of faith.
5
Installation
Your contractor completes the installation, including permits, electrical inspection, and micro-generation approval to connect to the grid.
How Shield Solar Helps
Our provincially licensed crews handle the full install — engineered for Alberta wind and snow loads — along with all permitting and your micro-generation application, so your system starts earning net metering credits as soon as it's energized.
6
Completion & repayment
After final documentation is verified, the municipality pays the contractor directly and your repayment begins as an installment on your property tax bill.
How Shield Solar Helps
We submit the completion paperwork, walk you through your monitoring app so you can watch your production in real time, and stay on call for the life of your system — backed by 25-year panel warranties.
COMMON QUESTIONS