Toronto-based renewable-energy developer SkyPower Corp., along with joint-venture partner SunEdison, formally announced the activation and grid connection today of a 9.1 megawatt solar park near the tiny Ontario town of Stone Mills. Their project, called First Light I, becomes the first multimegawatt-scale solar park in Canada to go live.  Two more phases are in the works — First Light II and First Light III — which will add 7.8 MW and 10 MW, respectively.

First Light I takes up 90 acres, equivalent to 50 Canadian football fields (i.e. they’re larger than those pansy NFL fields). All three phases totalling about 26 MW will cover 290 acres and be composed of 130,000 solar panels. These projects are backed by 20-year power purchase contracts obtained under Ontario’s former Renewable-Energy Standard Offer Program, or RESOP. That means the companies can sell power from the projects into the Ontario grid at 42 cents (Canadian) per kilowatt-hour. And because it’s not under the new Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program, it doesn’t have to comply with new local content rules.

First Solar and EDF are in similar situations under the RESOP — 42 cents and no local content restrictions. EDF started construction in June of its 23.4 MW project in Arnprior, Ontario (near Ottawa), while First Solar (which acquired the Ontario project pipeline from OptiSolar earlier this year) has been busy in Sarnia with more than 10 megawatts already installed. Today, it was announced that natural gas and oil pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. of Calgary was purchasing 20 megawatts of First Solar’s Sarnia pipeline for something close to $100 million. Enbridge also indicated that it’s interested, potentially, in doing more deals with First Solar, which has about 80 MW of projects in Sarnia and more than 200 MW under contract across province with the Ontario Power Authority.

In other news, expect Samsung to build about 100 MW of solar in Ontario — potentially. The company, which has signed a “framework agreement” with the province of Ontario (whatever that means), appears ready to develop 500 megawatts worth of wind and solar in the province. The hint came this week, when Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman directed the power authority to “hold in reserve” 500 MW of transmission capacity for a certain “proponent” doing some business dealings with the government — i.e. Samsung. The government is giving Samsung the royal treatment because it has also indicated plans to manufacture wind and solar products in Ontario to meet its own and other developer demands.

Sounds good, unless you’re a developer being booted further back in the transmission-connection waiting queu. Expect some vocal pushback. (check out my Monday column for more on that).

Toronto-based wind and solar developer SkyPower Corp. filed for court protection from creditors last week because it simply couldn’t service its massive debt. The company is more than $250 million in debt, and it has defaulted on a $214 million chunk of that. The money was used to purchase 134 GE wind turbines for future projects, and Lehman — as majority owner — had been helping SkyPower financially. But after the investment banking giant went bankrupt, that support faded and SkyPower was left in a tough spot. The company is now hoping to orchestrate a sale of its assets — i.e. its development pipeline, its existing operational projects, and its stockpile of wind turbines — so it can satisify its German lender and continue on its development path.

Let’s hope the company can work it out. SkyPower is almost finished building a 9 megawatt solar farm north of Kingston that, when complete, will be the biggest in Canada. It also recently won a 20-year power-purchase contract with the Ontario Power Authority for a planned 64.5 megawatt wind farm in Prince Edward County, a couple hours east of Toronto. The company has a number of other solar and wind projects at various stages of development. It would be a shame to see these projects affected.

I do want to point out a few upcoming events, however. Read below for details on the Greening Greater Toronto Marketplace on May 12, an alternative energy panel I’m moderating at the Empire Club of Canada on May 21, and the Net-Zero Energy Home Awards on June 8.

First, there’s the Greening Greater Toronto Marketplace happening this Tuesday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The marketplace was created by the Greening Greater Toronto Alliance in partnership with the Toronto Region Research Alliance to help local clean-energy and green technology companies get the early orders they need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products. The idea is that the province’s big corporate and government purchasers become a showcase for made-in-Ontario products that have large domestic and export potential. More than 100 large corporate and government purchasers, representing about $50 billion in procurement power, will be brought together with more than 20 local greentech suppliers. Hopefully they’ll do a friendly dance and strikes some great relationships. This is the first of what’s expected to be an annual affair.

Second, for those who are interested in a lunch-and-learn session, I’ll be moderating a panel on May 21 starting at 11:45 a.m. that will explore alternative energy technologies in Canada and the potential they have to change our electricity and transportation systems. Tom Heintzman, president of green electricity retailer Bullfrog Power; Kerry Adler, CEO of wind and solar developer SkyPower Corp.; and John Thomson, CEO of biogas developer Yield Energy, will be my panelists. Much of the talk will be around opportunities presented by Ontario’s new Green Energy Act, which could get Royal Assent as early as this week.

Finally, the Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition will be holding its inaugural NZEH awards event on the evening of June 8 (a Monday) in Montreal. It will take place at the Westin Hotel. It’s a chance to begin recognizing the important work going on in the builder/architectural community as it relates to net-zero homes, and more importantly the development of net-zero energy homes that can be easily replicated and that don’t come with an obscene premium. Disclosure: I am one of the four judges, and I can confidently say there is impressive work going on. Given the proper planning, there’s no reason why every new home can’t be a net-zero home — or close to it!