by DAVE PINK
The AGRIS Solar Co-operative is expecting to begin construction on 20 solar gardens in eastern Ontario before the end of the year, says general manager Andrew Clark.
They could be feeding 12.5 megawatts of electricity into the province’s power grid by the middle of next year.
“We have been talking to the government and the OPA (Ontario Power Authority),” said Clark. “”The program is just starting to move forward, and hopefully we will be building by the end of the year.”
The solar garden concept was developed after hundreds of property owners, almost all of them farmers, had been approved for small solar installations, but because of technical constraints they were not able to hook into the grid in their local areas. The creation of these solar gardens will allow all of them to own a small piece of a much larger project.
In all, Clark said there are about 1,000 people who have been approved for solar collectors under the province’s feed-in- tariff (FIT) and microFIT programs that have become members of the solar gardens co-operative.
The province will allow no more than 50 individual solar installations in each 10-acre solar garden. The 20 AGRIS solar gardens will all be built in the Belleville and Picton areas, a part of the province where the sunshine is plentiful and the grid is accessible, but the agricultural land is inferior.
Property owners paid $20,000 each to become part of the co-op, and will receive a share of the profits over lifespan of the solar gardens project. The AGRIS Solar Co-operative was formed in March 2010 by landowners who had been accepted into the microFIT program and guaranteed a return of 80 cents per kilowatt of electricity generated.
The OPA had set a May 31 deadline for the property owners with constrained microFIT projects to choose from four options. They could choose to relocate their project to another location in the province where the connection would not be constrained; they could assign their project to another applicant; or they could combine their projects, which is the case with the AGRIS Solar Co-operative. As well, the applicants who had already purchased solar panels could apply for remediation from the OPA. BF
Comments
No way should anyone get 80 cents for hydro period. Look at this province its going downhill and soon will hit rock bottom. How can anyone afford the price of hydro and have some money left over and enjoy abit of life or food for the table.
GREEDY PEOPLE
There are other options out there for moving constarined projects .. Agris isnt the only one offering options. People should take care in selecting who they go with .
You were very astute with your comment....
GREEDY PEOPLE - This project adds a guaranteed on farm income stream to farming operations, and doesn't require off-farm employment. So it actually helps to keep food on the table. It keeps farms and farmers and their families going in the face of heavily subsidized agriculture from overseas where they pay workers $4 a day to pick cucumbers.
If you really cared about preserving rural life, you wouldn't focus on the price paid for the supply of energy... which by the way, isn't 80 cents/kw because these are not rooftop microFIT solar projects.
I disagree with your position that bad energy policy somehow translates into good agricultural policy - it doesn't now, and never will. Furthermore, because so-called green energy drives up the price of electricity for everyone, it takes food "off the table" for everyone who doesn't have/doesn't want/can't get one of these projects. Therefore, to claim that the financial interests of the greedy few outweigh the public policy interests of many, is not only selfish, it's nonsense.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
I'd suggest that folks who slam renewable energy first take a look at the costs and risks involved in where over half of our electricity comes from in Ontario and begin to put things in perspective.
I,m not saying that there should not be renewable energy, I,m saying they should not get 80 cents for the hydro. If Ontario hydro payes you 80 cents and then and on all the rest of the charges the price would end up over a 1$ per kw. I know for a fact that I cannot afford to have electric power in my farm. It sounds like an Opec member in the oil business. People in Canada is willing to pay more for food produced in Canada or USA than offshore because of the quaility no price. Its no differnet than buying the crap made in china,throw away products that can,t be fixed. Look at any of the big solar or wind projects are being owned by big corperations not a family farm,I mean a single family farm not a multi family corperation. People think its a family farm when there is alot of brothers ,sisters and parents owning the same farm which is along way from a family farm.
i believe if you look into it you will find that the province is paying about $1.30/kWh for energy derived from nuclear, and nuke plants take roughly 40 yrs to pay off. If you were to look at any nuclear plant that was built in Ontario and find out how much it cost to build and how long it will take to pay off, and how many houses it can provide power to you will realize that solar is a far less expensive route to providing cost effective clean energy to any home. i beg somebody to differ. If the province was smart they would tell any company and condo builder coming into this province that it is a privilege to be here and that their roofs will be used to generate clean energy with 100% of the revenues going to help our communities. There's already a company doing that, it's called a Social Benefit energy company you should check it out. If every solar co-op in Ontario purchased their solar panels from this company it would result in millions of dollars being devoted to community enhancement projects. They are the only company doing this, and it helps all co-op projects to become a greater benefit to the community since co-ops only benefit the members of the co-op, but this company helps the entire community benefit even the people who can't afford to be members of the co-op. People need to spread the word fast before it's too late!
Nobody knows the life expectancy of any solar project, so therefore nobody knows either the internal-rate-of-return, or the net-present-value of any solar project in order to be able to compare it to any alternative investment. Even worse is that it is, by definition, impossible to calculate, with any degree of confidence, any sort of investment analysis on any proposal so-completely dependent on the whim of government. Why would any astute investor be dumb enough to invest in something which could see revenues decline by 50% overnight because government is the only buyer? Why would any astute investor be dumb enough to invest in something with an unknown life expectancy, an unknown net present value, and, therefore, having the potential to yield less return than a GIC? The undeniable truth is that Solar, as an investment opportunity for a private citizen, or farmer, is dumb, dumb, dumb.
Stephen Thompson, Clinton ON
i could not afford to go with my own micro fit so i went with agris and i will take 70% instead of 100% like the rich one's ..SO i say to the one's that are bitching about the cost look at what nuke electricity plant cost not the cost of 6cents a kilo hour do you see how much it cost you to receive the electricity...anyway the farmer that are complaners there is no incentive for you people because you are like business DEDUCT IT AS COST TO FARMING the indavidual can not so put that in your pipe and smoke it........
Look at what you pay for now solar or not you still have have upkeep , delivery and taxes for your hydro bill. Still the best by far would be to have them come up with a cheap way so you can use the power from your solar panels yourself.
80 cents is still way to high to pay for hydro on your bill, who can afford it.
Germany hit 50% of their electricity capacity 2 weeks ago not from coal, nuclear or natural gas but from SOLAR. The Ontario governments policy is all based off the German model. Germany recently announced that they are making multi-billion dollar investments into their grid, in order to better store and transmit energy across the country. You see Stephen Thompson the grid in Ontario and North America is ancient. We are spending billions replacing and updating transformers and infrastructure not by choice but out of necessity. These cost are then passed down to the consumer. The fit/microfit program is rewarding Ontarians who are assisting in the regentrification of our energy infrastructure as they should be. In the not to distant future government will pass into law a bill that requires Ontarians to take part in renewables and if they choose not to they will be penalized with higher energy rates. Similarly to Germany where all new buildings must be built with solar. Therefore you could piss and moan about the 80 or 64 cents a kilowatt Ontarians are being paid per kilowatt or you could get on board. The technology is here embrace it reap the rewards financially and environmentally. If not come up wit a solution that is more pragmatic than what the Germans are doing. We could bicker all day about all the minor details however that is not going to lower energy costs. Otherwise will build a couple of Fukushima reactors in rural Clinton, Ontario. The choice is yours.
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