Arnprior: Solar panel open house sees lots of visitors
Arnprior Chronicle-Guide / Derek Dunn / 23 May 2009
About 200 people attended the open house detailing the plans for a solar panel farm, the only one of its kind in Canada, located at the corner of Galetta Side Road and Hwy. 17.
Held at the Quality Inn in Arnprior, a series of placards lined the perimeter of the conference room offering information about everything from the company involved to the science behind solar panels to computer generated images of how the operation will appear from roadside.
On hand to answer questions were three representatives of EDF Group, a world energy leader from Europe that took in $1.4 billion in revenue last year.
“It’s gone really great. We are really pleased. Lots of questions like how it works, how soon will it be done, why is it important to do it,” said Jon Kieran, country manager for EDF Group.
Proponents of alternative energy sources such as solar power argue that traditional energy sources such as coal and natural gas are finite resources that produce far too much CO2, what is generally held in the scientific community to be the cause of global climate change. Kieran explained that the Arnprior solar farm will create 18 grams per kilowatt hour (on a lifecycle basis) of CO2; oil creates 850, and coal creates 900.
But it’s not all about saving the planet, either.
The Arnprior project is expected to earn revenue for the farmer renting out the land to EDF. Local municipalities will gain tax revenue.
About 100 people will be employed and $20 million in local procurement for materials, equipment and services will take place during the engineering and construction phases.
As for problems with solar power, high capital costs is often the first one sited.
Solar panels (accumulators) are not cheap, being created from fragile materials such as semiconductors. But Kieran said that as more and more jurisdictions buy into the technology a rise in demand will cause a decrease in cost.
A second problem is the need to store energy because of daily and seasonal availability of sunshine.
Solar power is by far the Earth’s most available energy source, easily capable of providing many times the total current energy demand.
However, it is an intermittent energy source, meaning that solar power must normally be supplemented by storage or another energy source.
One of the reasons West Carleton was chosen was its abundance of sun, which may come as a surprise to those who aren’t snowbirds.
“Eastern Ontario is a sunny place,” Kieran pronounced. “It’s true that solar storage doesn’t have much innovation at the moment. Intermittent generators need to have a more perfect solution.”
A more pointed criticism of alternative energy and its proponents comes from the right side of the political spectrum.
They say subsidies paid out to companies like EDF make it too expensive an energy source. For instance, a solar power producer can sell a kilowatt into the grid and receive 42 cents compared to the traditional power rate of 5.5 cents. The subsidy is 36.5 cents and must be paid out by all users.
But proponents say traditional energy sources also get tax incentives and subsidies.
Plus, there are the costs they don’t cover: contributions to climate change and healthcare costs related to air pollution.
There is also the virtual certainty that finite energy sources are going to rise in cost, perhaps dramatically, over the coming years.
Sandra Briner is marketing manager at EDF. She said she understands the resistance to emerging technologies.
But at this point solar is not trying to take over the world, just offer some peak time energy to Hydro One’s grid in Eastern Ontario.
“Solar is part of the solution, not the whole solution. There’s wind, tidal, all of the renewables,” she said. “We strongly feel that we are pioneers creating a new industry. We are not even so much in competition with each other as we are looking for a way to make this work.”
However, Kieran acknowledged the obvious — that profit remains a motivator.
“No. We’re not doing this for free. Our company is conservative (regarding revenue projections), but given a positive commitment from the province, we are confident we’ll make money in the future,” he said. “None of the developers in our field are making money, but as belief in the technology grows and as demand grows, we are hopeful. I have no doubt that it’s the future.”
