Scoping the North for solar potential.A Toronto renewable energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. developer won't confirm if Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. is in the running as the site for one of Canada's first, and North America's largest, solar farm. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But an official with SkyPower Corporation acknowledges the company has been scoping out prospective sites in Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it with major development plans to generate 50 megawatts (MW) of solar energy solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. for the provincial power grid. In an e-mailed response to Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. , Michelle Chislett, projects director for SkyPower's new solar division, SunPower Parks Corp.--wouldn't directly comment on any plans to build a large solar photovoltaic The generation of voltage by a material that is exposed to light in the visible and invisible ranges. See photoelectric and photovoltaic cell. farm on the outskirts of Thunder Bay in 2007 except to say "viable sites are being explored for Northern Ontario ..." SkyPower, a well-known Canadian wind energy developer, signed a joint venture deal last November with a major U.S. solar energy company, SunEdison LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control . The joint venture partners immediately revealed their ambitious plans to "develop, build, own and operate" five solar photovoltaic farms across Ontario of 10 MW each. Chislett says their Ontario solar projects remain in development and wouldn't comment on individual sites and construction timetables until the joint venture is ready to announce its lead project. SkyPower Corp. president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Kerry Adler said last November once the province's 20-year Standard Offer Program is implemented--the scheme used for renewable energy producers to sell green energy to the Ontario grid--the joint venture will announce where it's first facility will be located. The fixed price for solar energy in Ontario is 42-cents-per-kilowatt-hour. The projected cost of SkyPower's Ontario projects are in excess of $6-per-kilowatt hour. The company expects to create 250 construction jobs, 50 jobs-per 10 MW project and eventually one to two full-time positions per solar farm. While SkyPower has its own network of preferred suppliers, Chislett says local suppliers are used where possible. It's estimated 80 to 100 spinoff jobs will be created per project. Upon completion of their first Canadian solar energy farm, Chislett says it will be North America's largest. At solar photovoltaic farms in California and Europe, typically hundreds of panels with sun tracking devices are installed over several hundred acres of marginal farmland. "At this point, it is too early to speculate what type of panels or if trackers will be used," says Chislett. "A system of this size would use around 50,000 panels." The world's largest solar power system is Germany's Bavaria Solarpark with a total of 10 MW of power capacity generated from 57,600 panels spread out over three solar parks. The Thunder Bay area is already considered a good solar regime that Chislett says "compares favourably" to the Midwestern U.S. Any concerns by SunPower about power transmission capacity in northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior, and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. is under study. While some Canadian wind farm developers have run into resistance in some small towns, Chislett says "in general, municipalities and communities across Ontario have been very supportive of solar farms." SkyPower is no stranger to Northern Ontario having studied the possibility of investing in a large wind farm project through a partnership with a First Nation community in the Sioux Lookout area. The company is considered Canada's leading independent renewable energy developer with interests in more than 27 wind and hydro projects at various stages of development in eight provinces. It is also a well-connected firm with financial ties to RBC Capital Markets RBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking division of Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC"). Broker dealers Depending on the jurisdiction, the division uses different broker dealer subsidiaries of RBC:
For SunEdison LLC, Ontario is their first cross-border venture. The Maryland-based company provides "turn-key" solar energy services for U.S. customers such as Staples, the State of California and Xcel Energy. www.skypowercorp.com www.sunpowercorp.com By IAN ROSS Ian Ross is the name of:
Northern Ontario Business |
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