Solar rooftop installations now on the grid
Raised 250-kilowatt solar panel installation on a 30,000 square-foot roof. Photo: Solarform Inc.
TORONTO: Development continues on Ontario’s renewable energy front with the commissioning of a Canadian Solarform Inc. solar plant and the activation of a rooftop installation by SunEdison and GE Capital under the feed-in tariff (FIT) program.
Solarform, a solar panel distributor that is a Supplierpipeline/BRC Group joint venture based in Georgetown, Ont., has a 250 kilowatt AC solar plant up and running at ISPA Woodworking in Georgetown.
“We were only given 30,000 square feet of a large 110,000 square-foot building so we challenged the engineering team who were able to fit over 300 kilowatts DC on the space,” said Steve Bellamy, vice-president of sales for Solarform.
The raised-roof installation ties interior columns to the solar structure. Solarform said this method minimizes snow build-up in winter months and allows the panels to run at cooler ambient temperatures.
Solarform, a Georgetown-based solar panel distributor, is using high-output Juli New Energy Panels made under licence by OSM Solar Corp. in Welland.
Meanwhile, SunEdison, the Toronto-based solar energy subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., and GE Capital Real Estate are activating the first two of 15 solar rooftop systems under the FIT program.
SunEdison is building and operating the photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems hosted by GE Capital Real Estate on its commercial buildings in Vaughan, Brampton, Burlington, Markham and Mississauga, plus additional systems located in London.
The first two of 15 systems (totalling 2.3 megawatts of capacity) are capable of generating more than 3.2 million kilowatt-hours of energy over a 20-year period, offsetting a potential 9.8 million kilograms of CO2, which is the equivalent of removing 5,515 cars from the road for one year.
Solar racking equipment used for the project was made in Scarborough.
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Solar rooftop installations now on the grid
