On June 23rd, international clean energy company Omniwatt hosted a public meeting at the Beaverton Thorah Community Centre to inform and consult area residents about the two solar farms it proposes to build on nearby land. The public consultation was one of two required by Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment. According to the company’s Executive Director, Brett Berman, the thirty or more people who attended the meeting responded positively to the proposal.
Solar Farm to Produce Nearly 10MW of Renewable Power
Omniwatt submitted a proposal on May 10th for the installation of 45,000 solar panels on a lot in Brock Township, just south of Beaverton. The microcrystalline panels will be mounted on above-ground racking systems to avoid permanent damage to land. Cables will be fed underground, reducing the project’s impact on the landscape. When complete, the solar farm will be capable of producing up to 9.9MW of renewable power.
Omniwatt constructs its own projects and lends its expertise to third parties, providing its engineering, financing, and development experience to customers in both Europe and North America. The company specializes in wind, solar, and low impact hydro-electricity projects. In 2009, Omniwatt erected Eastern Ontario’s first solar farm near Hamilton, an initiative similar to the Beaverton project.
Ontario Solar Industry Offers High Prices for Clean Energy
Omniwatt has offices in Toronto and London, giving the company access to Ontario’s rapidly growing solar industry as well as the benefits of the Green Energy Act’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program. Under the FIT program, producers of renewable power are guaranteed above-market prices for twenty years. To offset the effects of the high prices on Ontario’s economy, participants of the program must obtain a certain percentage of their materials from within the province, depending on the type of project. This domestic content requirement could give a long-term and much-needed boost to the Ontario economy and help speed the growth of the region’s solar, wind, hydro, and biofuel industries.
Fitting just under the 10MW limit for FIT projects, the solar farm at Beaverton will contribute a significant amount of green energy to the grid while providing jobs to Ontario’s unemployed.
