Posts Tagged ‘solar energy’
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
As of March 15, Ontario’s green energy producers will be subject to a new set of fees for applications they make for feed-in tariff (FIT), microFIT, and other renewable power projects. The province has a rapidly-expanding market for solar, wind, and other clean power sources that has created thousands of kilowatts (kW) of green energy and boosted the careers of workers in these industries. In exchange for the new Renewable Energy Approval fees, the Ministry of the Environment will streamline the approvals process in order to make it easier for businesses, organizations, and individuals to participate in this emerging area in the future.
The FIT and microFIT are parts of a government initiative to diversify Ontario’s energy supply mix and to use cleaner forms of energy to replace the province’s coal-fired power plants by 2014. The programs keep the initiative on course by paying high prices to producers of solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, and biomass energy. In turn, they provide spin-off benefits like new career opportunities and training courses like Ontario Solar Academy’s PV design and installation training program.
Fees Help Simplify Process, Keep Solar Energy, Career Training on Course
The new Renewable Energy Approval fees, as drafted, range from $1,000 to $67,905, depending on the type and size of project. However, the Ontario government’s recent decision to impose a moratorium on off-shore wind projects effectively cancels the highest fee, leaving the top payout at $56,458 for on-shore wind farms larger than 50 MW. Owners of new PV projects will now pay $1,000 for government approval of installations of 500 kW and less and $12,844 for larger solar farms.
According to a government website, “The Renewable Energy Approval simplifies the number and types of approvals required for new renewable energy projects, integrating environmental, health, and safety matters previously dealt with by a number of provincial, municipal and proponent-driven processes into one process.” While Ontario’s new fees may present an obstacle for newcomers to the province’s green energy industry, the recent decision reflects the government’s responsibility to ensure that this new market evolves into a long-term, stable sector of the economy that helps to create a healthy and prosperous future for Ontarians.
Tags: Energy Career Training, FIT, green jobs, microFIT, ontario solar academy, Renewable Energy Approval, solar energy
Posted in Solar Legislation & Politics, Solar Social, Solar Training | No Comments »
Saturday, February 5th, 2011
For years, Canadians have complained about US-based air-borne particulate pollution. The special object of ire was Detroit, Michigan’s smokestack car industry and the exhaust “exported” to Windsor. Now Canada, with Ontario’s innovative feed-in tariff program, is not only combating that trend but also leading the way into a new energy era. Good fences no longer make good neighbours – one needs to share leading-edge solar economy technology as well. “The times,” as Bob Dylan sang, “they are a changing.”
In the new year, energy leaders in Ontario, Canada shared information with their counterparts in Colorado some aggressive public policy concerning some of their innovative solar economic programs that have raised the sustainability bar, including feed-in tariffs, building and promoting electric car-charging stations, and new construction projects. The ultimate objective is to create seamless energy grid infrastructure able to meet daily consumer needs and help generate alternative energy careers.
One challenge that Colorado has that Ontario does not is meeting resistance from the private owners of coal stations; in Ontario, they are publically owned. Another challenge is cost – to collect one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy from rooftop solar panels costs about $0.35 compared to approximately $0.10 for electricity generated from fossil fuel. To reach the stage of wide-spread acceptance, supporters of the solar economy must eliminate that cost differential. Solar energy certification programs will accomplish that objective by creating a more knowledgeable public. Alternative energy careers will blossom as the future economy flowers.
North American Cooperation Leads to Global Solar Economic Unity
With more Canadian provinces and US states on line collaborating, the entire energy ecosystem of production, distribution, and consumption will change for the better. Will the political and economic synergy of these new energies lead to closer political unity? We may imagine an organization that does not presently exist called Energy United that will fuel alternative energy political careers. The possibilities are as infinite as the rich bounty of solar power itself.
Tags: feed-in-tariff, OPA, PV, solar certification, solar economics, solar energy
Posted in Solar Legislation & Politics, Solar Technology, Solar Training | No Comments »
Friday, January 14th, 2011
Calgary’s Sustainable Energy Technologies, Ltd. (Sustainable) and Listowal, Ontario’s Ideal Supply Company, Ltd. (Ideal) have jointly announced that Ideal has selected Sustainable’s SUNERGY(TM) photovoltaic inverter for its work in the Ontario solar energy industry. Sustainable will begin to train Ideal dealers on the technical and sales aspects of its inverters in January.
Sustainable labels itself “Canada’s solar inverter company.” Its SUNERGY (TM) inverters achieve high electrical conversion efficiency while they reduce operating voltages to levels that increase safety for homeowners and solar installers. “Ideal selected the SUNERGY(TM) inverter for multiple factors,” says Tim Veal, Ideal’s Green Energy Specialist, “including its unique outdoor rating, low voltage safety factors, and its ability to deliver higher yields at a lower cost per watt than micro inverters.”
Ideal has operated in Ontario for more than eighty years as a distributor of electrical supplies and auto parts and has recently extended its reach into the realm of renewable energy. The company, known as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, serves more than 1,000 contractors from twenty-six locations across Southwestern Ontario. “Sustainable could not ask for a better partner to… roll out of the SUNERGY(TM) inverter in Ontario,” said Michael Carten, Sustainable’s CEO. “Ideal Supply brings a deep understanding of the Ontario electrical products market along with a strong Ontario brand and experienced sales force.”
Ontario Solar Energy Industry Blossoms Thanks to FIT Programs
Ideal currently awaits its initial order of 125 kW worth of inverters from Sustainable, which it will market to Ontario’s rapidly-expanding solar energy industry. The industry received a big boost at the end of 2009 when the provincial government began to offer its feed-in tariff (FIT) and microFIT programs. The programs provide twenty-year contracts that guarantee lucrative rates to producers of solar, wind, and biomass energy who feed their projects into the power grid. As of early last December, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) had executed 1,300 FIT and microFIT contracts. The programs create green energy and jobs for graduates of photovoltaic training programs, and in a variety of support industries such as transportation and manufacturing.
The FIT and microFIT make Ontario an ideal place for solar companies to build and manufacture materials for green energy installations. With Ideal’s help, Sustainable will take advantage of this booming market while it provides cutting-edge technology to solar installers across the province.
Tags: canada, FIT, ontario power authority, phtovoltaic, solar energy, solar training, sustainable energy
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Social, Solar Training | 2 Comments »
Friday, January 7th, 2011
City Council in Owen Sound, Ontario, will soon decide whether the municipality will join the province’s green economy with a pair of ground-mounted solar installations on city-owned property.
Within the next few months, Owen Sound’s Environmental Superintendent, Chris Hughes, will present a plan to Council for two 10 kW installations that the city’s Environmental and Waste Advisory Committee expects to cost $171,000 before taxes. The projects will generate revenue by participating in the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA’s) lucrative microFIT program. The committee reviewed proposals from nine different companies and selected Toronto’s Essex Energy Corporation (Essex Energy) to build photovoltaic systems at the Kiwanis Soccer Complex and at a public works facility in the city. Essex Energy is a division of Essex Power Corporation (Essex Power) that specializes in renewable energy systems and distributed generation.
Ontario’s microFIT pays above-market rates, locked into twenty-year contracts, to owners of small-scale alternative energy-generating installations who tie their projects into the province’s power grid. The program and its companion feed-in tariff (FIT) for larger projects create clean power as well as jobs for graduates of photovoltaic training classes.
Projects Would Create Alternative Energy, Jobs for Photovoltaic Class Graduates
“It’s environmentally responsible. It’s cost-neutral to begin with and, ultimately, it will be a source of revenue for the city in the future,” says Councillor Bill Twaddle, Chairman of the advisory committee. The projects, if approved, will also create jobs in the region, as the FIT and microFIT require participating developers to acquire up to 60% of materials and labour from within the province.
If City Council agrees to take on the projects, the two photovoltaic installations will represent Owen Sound’s first foray into alternative energy since the province began to offer financial incentives for clean electricity. “This is kind of a small introduction into the whole thing,” says Councillor Twaddle. The committee expects the solar installations to pay for themselves within ten years and generate income for the city for the remainder of the microFIT contracts. Owen Sound’s entry into the solar market brings the region into step with many other municipalities that, with the help of the OPA and graduates of the province’s photovoltaic classes, do their part to take Ontario into a greener future.
Tags: feed-in-tariff, green jobs, job development, microFIT, ontario power authority, ontario solar academy, solar energy, solar training
Posted in Solar Social, Solar Technology, Solar Training | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
On Wednesday, January 6, Richards Memorial United Church (Richards Memorial), in London, Ontario will begin operating its new microFIT rooftop solar installation. The project is the city’s first photovoltaic (PV) system on a church building.
“We’ve seen cars stop in the street and (drivers) roll down their windows to look up,” says the church’s pastor, Rev. Janet Fradette. Her congregation chose to focus on the environment in 2010, and she says the twenty-year contract is a reminder that a commitment to sustainability must be long-term.
“It’s one of those projects that has appeal from whatever viewpoint you look at it,” says the Reverend. The installation will create renewable energy, draw revenue, and provide work for Ontarians who have chosen to pursue green careers. Its fifty panels, installed in the shape of a cross, will produce 14 MW-hours of solar power and prevent the release of 11 tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year.
Programs Create Renewable Energy, Careers for Workers with Solar Training
The church secured an $87,000 loan from the Middlesex Presbytery of the United Church of Canada to finance its PV project. It expects to pay off the loan within eight years and then generate income by participating in Ontario’s microFIT program. The program creates renewable energy and careers for graduates of “green” educational streams, like solar training courses, by paying high prices for electricity produced by grid-tied solar or wind projects under 10 kW of capacity. The microFIT and its companion program for larger projects, simply referred to as the feed-in tariff (FIT), both lock prices into twenty-year contracts.
Richards Memorial expects the solar project to generate up to $216,000 over the course of its participation in the microFIT program. The church hired Direct Current Renewable Energy (Direct Current) to install the cross-shaped solar array. Direct Current is a Brantford-based company whose management brings to the table more than a decade and a half worth of training and experience in commercial and residential electrical systems. The company had already installed one system on a church in Hamilton prior to constructing the London project.
The church chose the last day of Epiphany to hold its dedication ceremony for the new solar system. The date, fittingly, commemorates the time when the Wise Men of the Bible followed the light in the sky in their search for Jesus.
Tags: feed-in-tariff, green economy, green jobs, job development, Ontario, ontario solar academy, solar academy, solar certification, solar energy, solar installation, solar projects, solar training, sustainable energy
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Social, Solar Technology, Solar Training | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
AVACOS Solar (AVACOS) has announced its completion of an experimental green energy project in residential Toronto, Ontario that includes a 4.6 kW rooftop PV installation and uses several other environmentally-friendly building techniques.
AVACOS is an Ontario-based designer, developer, and manager of solar PV projects. The company hopes to receive prestigious LEED Platinum Certification for its newly- completed residential project, which adds high-efficiency R-35 insulation, geothermal heating and cooling, and reclaimed building materials to the list of ways it minimizes its impact on the environment.
The new property, situated at an undisclosed location, was constructed by Toronto’s South Park Design Build. The property’s rooftop installation is Canada’s first to combine SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.’s (SANYO’s) HIT Double solar modules with DuROCK Alfacing International, Ltd.’s (DuROCK’s) Tio-Coat roofing membrane.
SANYO is a well-known global electronics company with operations in Canada. Its innovative HIT Double panels absorb solar energy from both sides, giving solar installers a more versatile material capable of 30% more energy output than conventional one-sided modules. Woodbridge-based DuROCK is a family-owned producer of finishes and coatings. The company’s Tio-Coat is a urethane coating that, when applied to the rooftop, provides 89% weather resistance and reflects a large percent of the sun’s rays. This property makes Tio-Coat perfect to combine with SANYO’s arrays, as the back sides of the panels can absorb the reflected sunlight. Windsor-based Schletter Canada, Inc. contributed its racking systems to the project.
Company, Province Open Doors for Workers with Solar PV Training
Koshi Terakawa, President of SANYO’s Canadian division, was reportedly pleased that AVACOS had successfully opened the door for HIT Double’s entrance into the residential market. Currently, Ontario offers rich compensation to homeowners who generate renewable energy that they feed into the electrical grid under its microFIT program. The microFIT and its companion program for larger projects, the FIT, have helped to create a number of employment and training opportunities in the solar PV market. Solar projects receive some of the highest prices under the FIT, which has spurred rapid growth in the industry. To keep up with the demand for solar installers, programs like Ontario Solar Academy’s solar PV training courses prepare new and seasoned workers alike for the future of energy generation.
AVACOS plans to employ its winning combination of eco-friendly technologies in its developments Canada-wide. This will give the country’s solar industry and its PV workers competitive edges in the global race to sustainability.
Tags: FIT, microFIT, ontario power authority, ontario solar academy, solar energy, solar training
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Social, Solar Training | No Comments »
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
SkyPower, Ltd. (SkyPower), has announced plans for a new solar park in the Greater Sudbury area that will tie into the provincial power grid as part of Ontario’s feed-in tariff program. The company will locate the $35-$45 million park, which it has named the HighLight Solar Project (Highlight Project), south of the town of Capreol in the Valley East region.
Toronto’s SkyPower is a solar energy company that develops, manages, finances, and owns renewable power projects across the globe. Members of the company’s experienced team dedicate their careers to developing green projects “in a responsible and meaningful manner.” SkyPower’s other Ontario projects include Canada’s first full-scale solar park, First Light I, in Stone Mills, and two recently announced installations in Napanee and Thunder Bay.
“The site… has a good amount of sunlight, according to our consultants,” says SkyPower’s spokesman, Brett James. “A good site is not impeded by winter conditions.” The new Valley East installation will utilize as many as 200,000 solar panels. The project’s construction will create eighty jobs for trades workers and graduates of the province’s PV training courses, and it will generate enough solar energy to power approximately 1,000 homes. SkyPower expects to begin constructing the solar power project in August, 2011, and complete it within six to eight months.
Project Will Create Green Jobs for Graduates of Solar Power Courses
Ontario has a robust green energy industry that includes solar module manufacturing plants and a number of related career opportunities. The province also benefits from training courses, such as Ontario Solar Academy’s five-day PV design and installation program, that prepare Ontario workers for new careers in the solar energy industry.
The centrepiece of Ontario’s green economy is its feed-in tariff program, which pays high prices to power producers who tie solar, wind, and biomass projects into the province’s electrical grid. SkyPower has applied to the provincial government to participate in the program. From there, it must also receive approval from the Ministries of the Environment, Tourism and Culture, and Natural Resources before it can commence building the HighLight Project.
The energy the project creates will divert about 10,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by replacing an equivalent amount of fossil fuels. Once the solar modules have reached the end of their lives – about twenty-five years – the company will remove the structures and leave the land to nature.
Tags: feed-in-tariff, green jobs, job development, microFIT, OPA, solar academy, solar certification, solar energy, solar training
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Technology, Solar Training | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Canadian Solar Solutions, Inc. (Canadian Solar Solutions), has signed an agreement with Sky Power, Ltd. (Sky Power), to add 18.5 MW of solar capacity to Ontario’s green economy. The partners will build two new solar farms in Napanee and Thunder Bay that will collectively produce enough electricity to power nearly 33,000 homes and create potential careers for graduates of the province’s photovoltaic (PV) training courses.
Kitchener-based Canadian Solar Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar, Inc. (Canadian Solar), headquartered in the same city. The parent company operates globally, while Canadian Solar Solutions handles the domestic market. The companies specialize in “turnkey solar solutions for residential, commercial, and solar farm markets in Canada.” Toronto’s Sky Power owns alternative energy projects in Canada and across the globe. The company develops, manages, and finances projects “from the initial discovery stages through to commercial operation.” Sky Power has agreed to engineer and construct the two new projects and has arranged financing through Germany’s Deutsche Bank.
Canadian Solar Solutions and Sky Power expect to complete the two new installations by mid-2011. When finished, the Napanee and Thunder Bay projects will produce 10 MW and 8.5 MW of solar energy, respectively, per hour.
Alternative Energy Creates Industry, Careers in Ontario
Ontario has a vibrant and growing green economy that is energized by a feed-in tariff (FIT) program that pays producers of alternative energy premium rates for electricity they generate from sources such as solar, wind, and biomass. The program creates clean energy, careers, and inspires training opportunities such as Ontario Solar Academy’s ISPQ-accredited solar PV courses. Participating projects must meet minimum targets for domestic content for both materials and labour. This provision keeps FIT money in the province and helps to build a stable foundation for the industry so that it survives the eventual conclusion of the program.
Canadian Solar plans to open a solar module manufacturing facility in Guelph that will help the company and other solar PV businesses in Ontario stay on course and meet the FIT’s domestic content requirements. The company expects to complete the plant, which it estimates will employ about 500 people, by the middle of next year.
Tags: canada, FIT, green economy, green jobs, Ontario, OPA, solar academy, solar certification, solar energy, solar training
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Legislation & Politics, Solar Training | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Enfinity Canada has finally broken ground on a 30 MW solar project that will provide about 200 green jobs for workers in St. Eugene in the Ontario township of East Hawkesbury. The announcement follows a delay that project developers experienced as a result of local opposition to the project.
Enfinity Canada is a subsidiary of Belgium’s Enfinity. The companies specialize in photovoltaic (PV) development, and the parent company has done work for solar industries in twenty-one countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Enfinity originally scheduled construction of the site to begin in March, 2010, but opponents of the project attempted to shut it down through legal means. Now clear of that hurdle, the company is ready to begin work on the project. Enfinity is currently preparing the future site of the installation by fencing off the property, performing preliminary landscaping, and planning access roads. The company will begin erecting the solar panels in the spring of 2011 and expects to complete the project by September of the same year. Enfinity has hired twenty people for the initial stages of the project, and will provide many more green jobs once they are ready to erect the 140,000 panels in the spring.
Province Home to Solar Jobs, Training, Workshops
Ontario is home to North America’s first feed-in tariff (FIT) program for renewable energy, which pays high prices for electricity generated using solar, wind, and biomass power. The program creates an industry that includes green energy and jobs, as well as educational opportunities such as seminars, workshops, and solar panel design and installation courses, to help workers and property owners become proactive on environmental issues and take advantage of the benefits of the FIT.
Enfinity offers workshops where potential solar panel installation builders and owners can learn about the FIT, as well as important information on the specifications of the ideal rooftop, how to select a qualified developer, and what to expect from a solar installation. Together, Enfinity and the Township of East Hawkesbury will work towards cleaner air and a more sustainable future for Ontarians.
Tags: canada, FIT, green energy act, green jobs, Ontario, OPA, phtovoltaic, solar academy, solar energy, solar training
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Social, Solar Training | No Comments »
Monday, December 13th, 2010
Waxman Industrial Services, Ltd. (Waxman), recently announced that it will host an 87,000 square foot photovoltaic (PV) installation on its Burlington, Ontario rooftop. Installing solar panels on the building’s roof will create work for graduates of Ontario’s green energy training courses. When complete, the installation will produce an estimated 500 kW of environmentally-friendly electricity per hour.
Waxman is Canada’s fastest-growing metals recycling company, with operations in Hamilton, Brantford, and Burlington. Toronto’s Atlantic Wind and Solar, Inc. (Atlantic) will construct, own, and operate the new rooftop facility. Atlantic is a commercial aggregator – a company that leases space for installations that generate energy to sell at a profit. The agreement between Waxman and Atlantic was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, Ltd., a global real estate firm with offices across Canada and on most continents.
Atlantic operates a number of projects that participate in Ontario’s lucrative feed-in tariff (FIT) program. The FIT encourages investment into green energy by paying owners of solar, wind, and biomass power projects above-market rates for electricity they feed into the grid. The microFIT offers even higher prices, depending on the type of installation, for projects of 10 kW and less. Last summer, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) barred commercial aggregators from participating in the microFIT.
FIT, MicroFIT Create Alternative Energy, Jobs
A number of businesses, including IKEA, have chosen to produce alternative energy on their Ontario properties and rooftops, largely motivated by the FIT’s high prices. This increased interest in green energy has led to a dramatic increase in the number of solar, wind, and biomass projects that operate in the province and has helped to create thousands of jobs. According to one estimate, Ontario will install about 2400 MW of clean electricity-generating capacity between 2010 and 2012, and a recent study conducted by ClearSky Advisors suggests that the region may add as many as 70,000 “person-years” of employment in the green energy sector by 2015. The FIT, microFIT, and the popularity of solar panels and other types of installations have also inspired industry players to offer courses for workers interested in making the switch to careers in renewable energy, such as Ontario Solar Academy’s five-day solar panel installation course.
Tags: canada, FIT, job development, microFIT, Ontario, OPA, phtovoltaic, solar academy, solar energy
Posted in Solar Business, Solar Legislation & Politics, Solar Social, Solar Training | No Comments »
As of March 15, Ontario’s green energy producers will be subject to a new set of fees for applications they make for feed-in tariff (FIT), microFIT, and other renewable power projects. The province has a rapidly-expanding market for solar, wind, and other clean power sources that has created thousands of kilowatts (kW) of green energy and boosted the careers of workers in these industries. In exchange for the new Renewable Energy Approval fees, the Ministry of the Environment will streamline the approvals process in order to make it easier for businesses, organizations, and individuals to participate in this emerging area in the future.
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