Ontario going solar

[Pierre the Great]

The Ontario government has given approval for a California company to construct a massive solar "farm" near Sarnia that will blanket an area larger than all three Toronto islands with hundreds of thousands of sun-soaking panels.

It will be the largest solar power station in North America and among the most expansive in the world to use photovoltaic cells that produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. Once complete, the 40-megawatt Sarnia project will be able to supply enough emission-free electricity to power between 10,000 and 15,000 homes on sunny days.

"This is certainly the most exciting thing I've ever worked on," said Peter Carrie of OptiSolar Farms Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Hayward, Calif.-based OptiSolar Inc. "We want to take solar mainstream."

The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to purchase the electricity under a 20-year contract that will see the clean power go into the provincial grid. An official announcement is expected today from the energy ministry.

The current world record-holder is the 12-megawatt Erlasee solar park in Germany, though another 40-megawatt park is under construction in the same region. On Monday, the largest U.S. project was announced: A 15-megawatt solar PV system to be built at an air force base in Nevada.

The Sarnia solar farm will be enormous by comparison, stretching across nearly 365 hectares, the equivalent of 419 Canadian football fields. An army of panels will be erected as high as seven metres off the ground, all tilted south to soak up sunlight.

Full Story:

http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/207415

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

You're definitely champ "New Threads"

[Dirty Harry]

########### what a collossal waste of money, 300$ upfront and then 42 KILOWATT PER HOUR to buy the juice! The usual cost of electricity in north america is 4-10 KW per hour... This is a mind boggling amount of waste.

edit: censored

Edited April 28, 2007 by sakiqc

[InsaneHABSfan]

########### what a collossal waste of money, 300$ upfront and then 42 KILOWATT PER HOUR to buy the juice! The usual cost of electricity in north america is 4-10 KW per hour... This is a mind boggling amount of waste.

edit: censored

I was thinking the same thing. Right now it will only be a minor effect on adjusted distribution charge rates, but in the future when cheaper coal plants are shut down it will be $$$$$$expensive.

One thing we do not see though is the cost on our medical system due to dirty polluters like coal fired plants which is what the goal is to offset costs. :?-

[Mr. Nasty]

If you guys want to cut your electric costs you should consider producing your own energy. Ontario is one of the few provinces that will actually pay you if you generate more energy on your own than you use. It only makes sense. I plan on using solar to help heat my hot water. It will pay for itself in 10 years and then it is all gravy.

If you were responsible for your energy...you may actually take an initiative and reduce the amount of unecessary energy you consume.

[Dirty Harry]

Why would I want to spend $50,000 on solar panels, I can think of better things for my money.

This guy http://256.com/solar/ is the first google hit when I searched for some info. It's cost him 19000$ (AFTER $22,000 of grants from the state of Masachusitts) to install the panels, and he saves $1100 a year which isn't terrible since you could call that a 5.5% rate of return, but I still make A LOT more on the stock market. The 5.5% return though is only possible with the MASSIVE subsidy that basically matched his own investment, if he paid the full 40,000$ then his return would be pathetic, especially when the panels start to breakdown after 20 years.

So it works out ok for him, but only because his fellow taxpayers are paying for most of his vanity project. In ontario the taxpayers are paying for all of this government vanity project, and the losses are astronomically higher than 20,000 dollars.

[Mr. Nasty]

Why would I want to spend $50,000 on solar panels, I can think of better things for my money.

This guy http://256.com/solar/ is the first google hit when I searched for some info. It's cost him 19000$ (AFTER $22,000 of grants from the state of Masachusitts) to install the panels, and he saves $1100 a year which isn't terrible since you could call that a 5.5% rate of return, but I still make A LOT more on the stock market. The 5.5% return though is only possible with the MASSIVE subsidy that basically matched his own investment, if he paid the full 40,000$ then his return would be pathetic, especially when the panels start to breakdown after 20 years.

So it works out ok for him, but only because his fellow taxpayers are paying for most of his vanity project. In ontario the taxpayers are paying for all of this government vanity project, and the losses are astronomically higher than 20,000 dollars.

Dude...A panel for you hot water will cost you roughly 3k. 50k worth would be a hell of a lot of energy.

Perhaps he should conider turning off the lights, upgrading his fridge etc.

[Dirty Harry]

There's more things in a house that use energy besides hot water..

-Heating in winter

-AC in summer

-Many appliances, many of which have motors

-Lights