Once a hub of coal and oil transport, the Town of Cobourg, east of Toronto, is taking full advantages of the opportunities afforded by Ontario’s Green Energy Act and feed-in-tariff programs as the town explores renewable energy alternatives. No stranger to the green movement, Cobourg was the first community in North America to convert to energy efficient streetlights, and it is now embracing solar energy projects throughout the region
Last year, Ontario invested almost $85,000 in Cobourg’s environmental committee, “Citizens for a Sustainable Cobourg,” under the Community Go Green Fund. The committee has made the most of the money, promoting renewable energy throughout Northumberland County since late 2009. It opened a storefront operation dubbed “Go Green Cobourg,” and it holds public information sessions, financing workshops, and contests.
One of its major efforts to date is Solar Unlimited Network (SUN) under the “Go Green Together” banner. SUN allows residents to join forces to buy solar equipment in bulk for rooftop solar installations, thus, reducing their costs by about 20%. A local video showcases the first SUN solar installation in March of 2010.
Cobourg expects to reduce its carbon footprint by more than 800 tonnes through feed-in-tariff projects and other environmental initiatives to help fulfill the intent of Ontario’s Green Energy Act.
microFIT and FIT Projects not without Snags
Cobourg City Council has endorsed two new solar projects under the microFIT program that will generate power to feed electricity into the grid. Yet some controversy remains about rezoning and the splitting of the lots. Some see it as an attempt to decrease the size of the project to squeeze into the microFIT program and avoid the more complex rules associated with the larger feed-in-tariff (FIT) program. The microFIT program, which covers projects smaller than 10 kilowatts, has fewer regulations and less “green tape.”
While the Green Energy Act may not be free of snags, its intent was to encourage green jobs and clean energy in Ontario. Small-scale microFIT initiatives coupled with large-scale feed-in-tariff programs could create about 20,000 green energy jobs and $9 billion in private sector and manufacturing investment. Cobourg is one of many communities to take this intent to heart.
Moving Ahead with the Green Energy Act
On a larger scale, greater Northumberland County companies are participating in 76 ground-mounted solar photovoltaic projects and 1 rooftop solar project announced earlier this year under the Feed-In-Tariff program.
