Southwestern Ontario is home to a new farmer-owned solar energy company, AGRIS Solar Co-operative. This co-operative will work with renewable energy project developer and installer, Spark Solar, to implement and finance a range of solar installations in the community.
The new solar energy investment will supply local residences with the tools and training they need to develop solar solutions that benefit the entire community. “Our goal is to construct, install, and operate more than 1000 solar units across Ontario, which will provide enough power for 20,000 homes annually,” said David Malott, AGRIS Solar Co-operatives’ Board President.
By expanding on the province’s micro Feed-in-Tariff (microFIT) Program and Ontario’s Green Energy Act, AGRIS Solar Co-operative predicts that its 1000 solar unit installation project will be valued at $70 million once completed. While no single member of the co-operative would be able to finance such a venture, collectively, this community believes that it can help Ontario realize its long-term goal of a sustainable future driven by green technologies.
Solar Training Boosts Solar Installation Numbers
While AGRIS seems determined to provide much of its own training, there exist numerous schools across the region that are helping to get the word out about Ontario’s solar boom. The Ontario Solar Academy, for example, offers 5-day certification and training courses to prepare ordinary people for rooftop installation. Similar initiatives are being launched across the provinces as more and more citizens begin taking note of solar energy’s potential. However, to date, few communities have organized as effectively as the AGRIS Co-op.
Helping to fuel this trend are Ontario-based manufacturing and design companies eager to take advantage of the region’s domestic content requirements. Enphase Energy, for example, hopes to satisfy the 50% Ontario-produced materials quota with its locally produced microinverter. While such domestic content limitations undoubtedly trouble international manufacturers of solar equipment, perhaps grassroots initiatives like AGRIS are indicative of a much larger shift towards self-sufficiency and local activism.
