42 solar parks totalling 407 MW under contract in Ontario
I’ve got a story in today’s Toronto Star about a ground breaking on the first of many massive solar parks expected to be built across Ontario over the next two or three years. SkyPower Corp., a Lehman Brothers company, and joint-venture partner SunEdison LLC are beginning construction of a two-phase, 19-megawatt solar park about 30 kilometres west of Kingston, Ontario. SkyPower has another six 10-MW projects under development, and it’s not alone. Topping the list is California’s OptiSolar, which breaks ground on a six-phase, 60-MW solar park next month. In all, Ontario has signed contracts to purchase more than 400 MW of solar electricity for 42 cents a kilowatt-hour. Now, it’s no guarantee all of these projects will get built, but given the fact that the largest solar installation in Canada to date is only 100 kilowatts, the ground-breaking on these large parks is nothing short of impressive.
NOTE: When they’re built I’m going to have the Toronto Star charter a plane so we can take fly-by pictures and video of the parks. It’s about time we have our own images, rather than relying on the same old snapshots out of Bavaria, Germany.
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.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
While Germany is using subsidies for solar power to develop world class PV industry, the Ontario government is foolishly throwing money around like a drunk sailor to cloth itself in a green garb, without a strategy for the development of Ontario based solar industry. Very typical of our idiot premier.
April 27th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Great for Ontario’s manufacturing base…. We have the highest number of statutory holidays, the highest minimum wage in North America (this of course will cascade through the rest of the wages), and now the government is trying for the highest electrical rates. If the premier has the time, I could show him some other ways to screw up manufacturing in Ontario.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Will any of the PV panels be produced in Ontario? In Canada?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am
While the strategy is not the best, there is a distinct advantage. Ontario might not really be investing in the industry locally, it does create an investment in the technology globally. This is still better than nothing, as it helps to solve global problems. More importantly it will help to develop a market of solar installers. Currently it costs a great deal to install PV because of a lack of qualified, experienced professional installers. If people in the manufacturing industry would quit crying for bailouts from the government and get some training, perhaps they could be the one installing the panels. The culture of the industry, however, tends to lean towards complaining and placing “Don’t buy foreign” bumper stickers on their less efficient, more expensive domestic cars.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
If Ontario doesn’t install solar parks, where will we get the increased power requirements Ontario will need over the next 3-7 years? What happens when the recession/slow down in manufacturing ends, will we have shortages of power in Ontario? What is Ontario’s current peak load/production and import capability during the summer peak load period? How long does it take to build a nuclear, coal or gas plant from planning to generation? Are politicians who are up for re-election likely to approve major new generation projects based on coal? How is Ontario going to upgrade transmissions lines into population centers with NIMBY?
Are these problems common with other provinces and states?
Instead of complaining about the price of solar/renewable suggest a viable alternative that can answer the questions above.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
If you install enough of these 42 cents/kwh monsters, no one will be able to afford the electricity. Look around other blogs and you will see discussions of 5 cents/kwh.
The 42 cents benefits only the fat boys of Wall Street who see a good thing when it is dropped in their lap.
May 4th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Instead of complaining about the price of solar/renewable suggest a viable alternative
May 4th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I think that you are missing the point. There is nothing wrong with solar (whether PV or thermal). But there is something awfully wrong with solar at 42 cents/kwh ( at generation price level). Solars are popping all over the place, but at a fraction of this cost. 42 cents/kwh is economic suicide, and can be driven only by a distorted, na
May 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
does anybody else finding it amusingly ironic that it’s 407MW…could this be this government’s version of the 407ETR?
May 21st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
You are either not paying for electricity, failed in Economics 101, or are colour blind to any colour but Green,
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:14 am
$.42 is not nearly enough when you look at the ROI for installing solar PV systems.
Average break even point for a installed 1MW PV system is around 13-15 years. I’ve done the calculations. That is a joke for any serious investor. Ontario government needs to step up to the plate and start offering grants of around 25-30% of capital cost (like California) and boost tax breaks. That’s when solar energy will start to gain more foothold here.
Anyone interested to see the details of my calculations? Post your email and I’ll send you the spreadsheets.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
The 407ETR had most likely a criminal component in the deal. RCMP should look at the personal financial status of some of Mike Harris cronies.
The 407MW is simply stupidity.
May 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
If .42 is not enough that how come Wall Street financiers are in the deal. Are they looking for ways to lose money?
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
If you had $7.5 million to install 1MW solar park in Ontario would you do it?
Would you do it if you knew that you would only break even after 15 years at the current rate of $.42/kWh?
I wouldn’t. I would rather put the money in the bank. My bank’s (PC) savings account gives me 3% interest yearly. That means that after 15 years I would of made $3.3 million in interest, (and that’s not accumulated interest either) and not just broke even on the investment who’s usefulness is nearing it’s end (because equipment age).
Might want to go and see them “Wall Street financiers” and check their calculator.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
If ontario doesn’t install solar, what will it install instead to generate the required electricity growth during peak load over the next 3-7 years? How long will it take to build that additional capacity?
Still can’t answer the question?
June 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Alex,
I ‘d be interested in seeing your calculations. 13-15 years seems a very long break even period to me. Send me the spreadsheets to georgisanefendi hotmail.com
Thanks
George
June 7th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Between 2000 and 2006, U.S. utilities proposed 150 coal-fired power plants. By the end of 2007, utilities had built 10 of those, 25 were under construction, and a whopping 59 had been canceled or delayed due to everything from increased regulatory scrutiny to worries that global-warming regulations that were no more than a gleam in the eyes of some members of Congress would slap new costs on coal-burning plants. The problem got worse with the January 2008 cancellation of the federal FutureGen clean-coal pilot plant. The utility industry projects it will take 15 years to get this technology from a pilot plant to a commercial plant, and the clock isn’t yet ticking. Every coal-fired plant put on hold increases the need for substitute generating capacity. That will keep natural-gas prices dancing upward and make electricity more expensive.
The Henry Hub price of natural gas — which is burned to produce electricity — climbed 49% from October to May.
Hundreds of nuclear reactors are in the pipeline around the world, and about 30 are actually under construction, but it’s taking longer and costing more than expected to build them. Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 reactor, the first of a new generation of European pressurized-water reactors from French company Areva (ARVCF), was supposed to start producing electricity in 2009. The project is about two years behind schedule, however. Areva and its client, Finnish utility TVO, are arguing over $2.4 billion in cost overruns.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:55 am
SkyPowerCorp has a project manager position available for Ontario, posted on Craigslist Toronto, December 08.