Your neighbour's investment only "works" because government policy has accorded him the privilege of receiving subsidized microFIT payments for power generated from intermittent sources. This is politically popular with some, but ultimately useless for maintaining a stable supply of electricity.

To the extent his scheme pays off, he is essentially ripping off every other ratepayer in the province by raising the Global Adjustment portion of their power bills. Bragging about this is poor manners.

If everyone tried to repeat his success, we'd be utterly bankrupt and the electrical grid would be in tatters.