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Power Solution
for Hayward is Right Under Our Noses ...
Array of solar panels
are seen during the presentation of a solar energy park in
Beneixama near Alicante, eastern Spain, March 21, 2007. The
Ontario government has given a California company the
green light to build North America's biggest solar-power
station, a spokesman for the energy minister of the Canadian
province said on Thursday. REUTERS/Heino Kalis
Note: The California company is OptiSolar
Inc. in Hayward.
North America's
biggest solar farm set for Ontario
Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:20PM
EDT
By
Jennifer Kwan
TORONTO (Reuters) -
Work on North America's biggest solar power plant will start
next year in Ontario, the Canadian province's energy minister
said on Thursday.
Once complete in
2010, the 40-megawatt project, near Sarnia in southwestern
Ontario, will be able to supply enough emission-free
electricity to power up to 24,000 homes.
It will be built by
OptiSolar Farms Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Hayward,
Calif.-based OptiSolar Inc.
"This is an exciting
development in Ontario's quest for cleaner power and in our
efforts to minimize our ecological footprint," Ontario Energy
Minister Dwight Duncan told a news conference.
Duncan added the next
largest photovoltaic project in North America was announced
earlier this week. It is a 15-megawatt solar system to be
built at an air force base in
Nevada.
"Solar electricity is
just about everything we could want in an energy source," said
Peter Carrie, vice-president of OptiSolar Farms Canada
Inc.
"It's clean, you can
tap into it wherever and whenever the sun shines. It's quiet,
sustainable and Earth-friendly."
Currie would not
disclose how much it will cost to build the project, but said
typically a project in a 10 megawatt range would cost up to
C$80 million.
The solar farm will
stretch across nearly 365 hectares, and about one million
panels will be erected as high as 7 meters off the ground.
Currie said the company plans to begin building the solar farm
in spring 2008.
Ontario pays solar
power generators 42 Canadian cents a kilowatt-hour for
electricity, a key reason OptiSolar chose to build its project
in the province.
The Ontario Power
Authority has agreed to purchase the electricity under a
20-year contract that will see the power go into the
provincial grid.
The solar farm
project is part of 14 new, renewable energy projects awarded
through Ontario's Standard Offer Program, which sets a fixed
price for small renewable energy projects.
The program is
expected to add up to 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy to
Ontario's electricity supply over the next 10
years.
($1=$1.12
Canadian)
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