Toronto tests “solar utility” service
I have a story today in the Toronto Star about a pilot project that would see the city equip up to 20 municipal buildings with solar thermal systems that would provide hot water and space heating. But instead of owning and operating the systems itself, the city would sign a 10-year contract with a “solar utility” — a company that would pay for, install and manage the equipment and then sell the heat that’s produced to the city at a fixed price. The solar heat would offset the use of natural gas or electricity that would have otherwise provided the heat for everything from community swimming pools to hot water in schools. It’s similar to the model adopted by SunEdison for the provision of solar electricity, but instead of power the city would be purchasing heat energy. Toronto city council is expected to approve the pilot project on Monday, and if successful it will likely be deployed across dozens more buildings across the city.
I’m only aware of one company in Toronto that would provide a solar utility service — that would be Mondial Energy Inc., which has already installed systems in a local hospital and two housing projects. But given the potential demand from the city, and the fact this could easily catch on in the private sector and in other cities across Canada, I fully expect a utility — hydro or natural gas company — to give the idea a serious look. Even SunEdison might get into the thermal game and bid for the Toronto business…
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
