Put solar panels on roofs and fields. Fast to start, outdoors, and growing every year.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Experienced installer
$54,000
New installer
$39,000
Crew lead or electrician
$83,000
Job Bank's national median is $26 an hour, about $54,000 a year full time. The top of the range is mostly licensed electricians who do solar. Pure panel mounting pays less; the electrical connection pays more.
$18 to $22 an hour
Installer with no experience, hired and trained by a solar company
About $39,000 a year if the work is steady. Many companies slow down in winter, so first-year income can be lower.
$35 to $40 an hour
Crew leads and installers who hold an electrician ticket
Only a licensed electrician can make the final connection to a home's panel and the grid. Installers who become electricians roughly double their pay.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
There is no required school, so most installers are hired as a labourer and trained on the crew, and the low end is just boots and a few hand tools. The high end is a short solar installation course paid for up front, a working at heights and fall protection certificate, and your own harness and tools. Many employers pay for the heights certificate, so ask before you book it yourself. Moving on to an electrician apprenticeship later is paid work with school blocks at roughly 400 to 800 dollars each.
There is no required school. Most people are hired as a labourer and trained on the crew.
Paid from day one
No tuition to start.
Overtime in summer
Long days from spring to fall when installs peak.
Travel pay on solar farms
Utility-scale projects in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario pay per diems and camp or hotel.
Health and dental
At larger installers and electrical contractors. Small companies often offer little.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Hire on, learn to mount and wire panels, then decide whether to go for the electrician ticket.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Math and physics help. A driver's licence and comfort on a roof matter most.
Safety tickets
Days
Working at heights or fall protection, plus WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials). One or two days each. Employers often pay.
Get hired as an installer
Weeks
Solar companies and electrical contractors hire labourers each spring. You start by carrying panels and bolting racking to roofs.
Learn the system
1 to 2 years
Racking, panels, DC (direct current) wiring, inverters, batteries. Short manufacturer and college courses fill in the theory.
Optional: electrician apprenticeship
4 to 5 years
Four to five years to a Red Seal Construction Electrician ticket. It is the standard way to move from installer to the person who signs off the job.
Physics
Voltage, current and how a panel turns sunlight into power.
Math
Roof angles, string sizing and load calculations.
Construction technology or shop
You are a roofer and an electrician's helper at the same time.
Environmental science
Understanding why the work matters helps you talk to customers.
Nobody licenses solar installers in Canada. Mounting racking and panels is open to anyone the company hires. The electrical side is different: connecting the system to a building and the grid is electrical work, and in most provinces only a licensed electrician or registered apprentice may do it. Every job also needs an electrical permit and inspection. That is why solar companies are usually electrical contractors, and why the electrician ticket is the big career move.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Electrician apprenticeship and Red Seal
The single biggest step. Lets you do the connections and run your own crew.
Battery storage training
Home batteries are being installed alongside panels. Fewer people know how to do them well.
EV (electric vehicle) charger installation
Often sold with solar. Short courses, more billable work.
Solar design and sales
Sizing systems, quoting and permit drawings. Office work with commission on top.
Roofing or construction experience
Half the job is being safe and fast on a roof.
A clean driver's licence
Crews drive to sites every day.
Basic fitness
Panels weigh around 20 kilograms and you carry them up ladders.
Big projects in the Prairies and Ontario hire hundreds of installers for a season to bolt down tens of thousands of panels in a field. The work is repetitive but pays overtime, travel and camp allowances. Some installers chase these projects across the country; others use one season to save money for an apprenticeship.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Load the truck at 7am and drive to the house. Set up ladders and fall protection, mark the rafters, bolt down the racking, then lift and clip in the panels. The electrician on the crew wires the strings to the inverter while you finish the roof. A residential job takes one to three days. In summer you might work ten-hour days; in a Prairie winter you may be laid off or moved to warehouse work.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Canadian Renewable Energy Association says the cost of solar technology fell by more than 83% between 2009 and 2025. That is why panels went from a luxury to a normal home upgrade.
The Canadian Renewable Energy Association expects Canada's installed wind, solar and storage capacity to grow by a third in four years and double within a decade. Every one of those panels needs someone to install it.
The federal Job Bank flags solar panel installer as a job that contributes directly to positive environmental outcomes. It is one of the few trades you can enter with no schooling that carries that label.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.