Canada's largest solar farm to be built near Sarnia

May 2007

U.S. Water News Online

TORONTO -- A California company will build Canada's largest solar farm near Sarnia, Ontario, installing more than 1 million panels on the ground to generate 40 megawatts of power that it will sell to the provincial government.

The Canadian Press has learned OptiSolar plans to have the clean electricity on the Ontario power grid by 2010.

Hayward, Calif.-based OptiSolar will be paid $.38 cents per kilowatt-hour for the solar power, almost four times the amount paid for wind power.

Sources say the solar farm in Sarnia, across the St. Clair River from Port Huron, Mich., and about 60 miles northeast of Detroit, is the largest of 14 projects that Energy Minister Dwight Duncan will announce Thursday under Ontario's standard offer program.

The program pays companies a premium for electricity generated by wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy.

The 14 projects will add more than 107 megawatts of power to the provincial grid, and will include two new water power projects with Ontario First Nations.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.uswaternews.com