Co-op to sell, install solar PV systems for Ontario farmers, greenhouses
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Guelph, Ont.-based Ag Energy Co-operative announced yesterday that it is launching a solar PV installation program for its member farmers and greenhouse operators throughout the province. The idea is that Ag Energy can act as a central point of contact, allowing the co-op to make bulk purchases of PV systems and get the best value for members. It has partnered with a company called Essex Energy Corp., which will design, acquire and install the system on behalf of the co-op.
Ag Energy was founded in 1988 as an organization that could make bulk purchases of electricity and natural gas and sell it back to members at a fixed priced. The goal is to reduce price volatility that might expose agricultural operations to spikes in energy prices. The co-op hopes to take the same approach with solar PV by aggregating demand and getting lowest cost PV systems that are designed to the meet the needs of greenhouses and other agricultural operations. Ag Energy also says it is prepared to lease land from farmers so it can own and install its own systems.
Of course, the interest is directly related to the new feed-in-tariff program being introduced, likely this fall, to the Ontario market. (more…)
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and 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 cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca