Posts Tagged ‘sustainable energy’

Sustainable Energy’s Latest, Largest PV Installation Project on Course in Ontario

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Sustainable Energy Technologies, Ltd. (Sustainable Energy) has recently announced that an unnamed tracking photovoltaic (PV) installation, which is on course to become the largest of its kind in the province, will use the company’s SUNERGY inverters.  Company policy prohibits it from releasing certain information about its clients, but Sustainable Energy revealed basic details of the latest venture to the media.  The project, located in Eastern Ontario, will be capable of producing more than 500 kW of renewable energy, and its construction will create work for the region’s career solar installers and recent PV course graduates.

Sustainable Energy expects its unnamed business partner to complete its installation by the end of the year.  The company is excited to have its name attached to such a large undertaking.  “This project establishes the SUNERGY inverter as the product of choice in Ontario for solar tracker projects,” says Sustainable Energy’s CEO, Michael Carten, “especially in the fast-growing microFIT market.”  The Calgary-based company has offices in Toronto and abroad in Spain, Greece, and Japan.  According to its website, its proprietary inverters have “demonstrated the ability to convert operating voltages as low as 10 volts while still achieving better than 90% electrical conversion efficiencies.”

Advanced Technology Aids FIT Projects, Renewable Energy Careers

Ontario’s feed-in tariff (FIT) and microFIT programs pay green energy producers high prices for power they feed into the grid from solar, wind, and biomass systems.  The programs create renewable energy and career opportunities and inspire new kinds of educational services, such as PV installation courses.

Sustainable Energy’s solar tracker is perfect for Ontario’s widely variable climate, as it operates at temperatures as low as -40 C.  It also generates up to 40% more solar energy, and at a lower cost, than its static counterparts.  SUNERGY is the only tracker-mounted solar inverter available for the FIT and microFIT markets, and is the only grid-tie inverter that offers parallel design capabilities for larger systems with the cost and ease-of-use of lower-voltage models.

The SUNERGY inverter’s sustained presence in Ontario will give the solar industry a leg up in efficiency and versatility, which in turn will boost the market, bringing Ontarians greater sustainability, cleaner air, and jobs for renewable energy workers.

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Dealers to Receive Training on Cutting-edge Photovoltaic Inverter Technology

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.

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London Church Set to Switch on Solar Cross, Participate in MicroFIT

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.

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Renewable Energy Company Offers Information, Training at Solar Exhibition

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Sustainable Energy Technologies, Ltd. (Sustainable), has announced that it will offer workshops to provide information and training on its renewable energy products as part of this year’s Solar Canada exhibition in Toronto.  Sustainable will showcase its latest SUNERGY photovoltaic inverter at the exhibit, which takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre December 4-7 and will hold the workshops on the 8th at the InterContinental Toronto Centre from 8 AM until noon and from 1-5 PM.

Sustainable’s workshops will augment the renewable energy training curricula of Ontario’s solar PV design and training courses, such as Ontario Solar Academy’s five-day solar installation classes.  The two sessions will focus on the company’s SUNERGY inverter technology, which allows solar installers to use parallel circuits, a technique that increases safety and energy yields and improves the versatility of solar panel configurations.  According to Sustainable, SUNERGY inverters are the only products on the market with a high power rating that also allow the parallel option with a price and ease of serviceability that compares to conventional inverters.  These qualities make the product ideal for projects that take part in Ontario’s feed-in tariff program.

Feed-in Tariff Program Pays High Prices for Alternative Energy, Creates Jobs

Ontario’s feed-in tariff program, the first on the continent, pays high prices for power generated by solar, wind, and other alternative energy systems.  The program has so far succeeded in its goals to create green jobs and clean energy in the province, and it allows home-owners to become part of the solution with its microFIT option for small-scale installations.  Rooftop systems less than 10 kW receive the highest prices, 80.2 cents per kW-hour.  The owners of these systems stand to benefit significantly from the increased efficiency, safety, and simplicity of Sustainable’s inverters.

Potential Sustainable customers and other interested parties can expect to learn about products and prices at the workshops, as well as about special price reductions, installation techniques, and system monitoring.  Admission to the event is $75; attendees must register using the Solar Canada sign-up form.  Space is limited and admission is first come, first served.

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