Guelph Hydro, Inc. (Guelph Hydro), announced on December 16 that it would install a 100 kW solar power system on the roof of its Guelph facility that will tie into Ontario’s electrical grid under the province’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program. Once the project receives FIT certification, Guelph Hydro will add its facility to the more than 1,000 projects that have officially joined the solar energy industry under the program

Guelph Hydro has enlisted Aecon Group, Inc. (Aecon), to build the new facility, which will consist of sixty solar arrays manufactured by Canadian Solar, Inc. (Canadian Solar). Toronto’s Aecon has operated for over a century and is “Canada’s largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company.” Canadian Solar is a global solar panel manufacturer, headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, that sells its products to the Canadian solar energy industry through its subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions, Inc. (Canadian Solar Solutions). According to the subsidiary’s President, Milfred Hammerbacher, “Canadian Solar Solutions applauds Guelph Hydro for their continued commitment to being a… leader in sustainable energy.”

Programs Encourage Green Energy, Create Career Opportunities

The FIT pays producers of renewable energy lucrative rates to tie solar, wind, and biomass installations to the province’s electrical grid. Ontario has become a hotbed of green energy production, green manufacturing, and green careers thanks to the program, and Guelph is poised to get in on the action with its Community Energy Initiative. The plan is to bring the municipality’s total number of solar roofs to at least 1,000 by installing the technology on area buildings and leasing other properties for the same purpose. To date, twenty homeowners in the city have accepted the challenge and installed solar installations on their own properties.

The FIT and the Community Energy Initiative not only bring the province toward a more sustainable future, but they also inspire support for niche industries such as certification programs designed to train solar power installers. These programs certify that today’s trades-people are prepared for tomorrow’s modes of power generation. Guelph will require many of these types of workers to achieve its thousand-roof goal.

“Guelph Hydro is committed to developing cleaner energy sources in Guelph,” says the utility’s CEO, Barry Chuddy, “so we felt it was important to lead by example and be one of the first organizations in the community to install a rooftop solar renewable energy system under Ontario’s feed-in tariff program.”