Florida’s NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NextEra), has agreed to buy four solar installations worth an estimated 40 MW from First Solar, Inc. (First Solar). The projects will be located in Ontario’s Sombra and Moore Townships. The province enjoys a vibrant and growing green economy, thanks to North America’s first-ever feed-in tariff (FIT) program for renewable energy.

First Solar is an Arizona-based company with offices in Europe and Sarnia, Ontario, that designs, makes, and markets thin film solar modules for the global market. Once the company completes construction of the four new 10 MW installations, First Solar will pass them over to NextEra’s Canadian subsidiary, NextEra Energy Canada, who will own and operate the facilities. NextEra and NextEra Energy Canada are retailers and wholesalers of renewable energy that specialize in project development and construction. Their parent company, NextEra Energy, Inc., owns nearly 4,000 MW of clean energy generating capacity and employs more than 15,000 people across the US and Canada.

According to the companies’ estimates, these latest solar projects will reduce Ontario’s annual carbon emissions by more than 40,000 tonnes or the equivalent of the accumulated yearly exhaust from 8,600 cars.

Ontario Home to Green Industry, Solar Panel Training

First Solar plans to begin constructing the four installations early in 2011, pending government approval, and it expects to complete the projects by the end of the same year. The company will benefit from the green energy infrastructure that is created largely by Ontario’s FIT, which pays high prices to renewable energy producers who tie projects into the grid. The province is also home to Ontario Solar Academyand its solar panel design and installation training program, which turns out graduates who are familiar with the regulatory, technical, and legal ins and outs of Ontario’s solar economy.

First Solar will require many of Ontario’s trained solar installers to install the 172,000 solar panels at each of the Sombra and Moore locations. The projects represent a substantial boost to the Canadian market and will contribute to roughly 2400 MW of green energy that the province will add to its power supply between 2010 and 2012.