Solar: Success Stories

Belmont Solar Farm

First Solar Development (Canada) Inc. of Sarnia, Canada’s largest solar energy company, has several applications before the Ministry of the Environment. One of them is for the Belmont Solar Farm, which would cost $100 million to build

The location is on 448 acres (181 hectares) of land northwest of the Town of Belmont. The tract straddles the Municipalities of Central Elgin, Thames Centre and the City of London.

The solar farm would consist of 20 arrays of photovoltaic modules or panels, mounted on fixed steel supports and arrayed in long rows. The arrays would be connected to a series of small shelters housing electric current conversion equipment and switches. They would ultimately connect via underground cable to the Erie Thames Power Transmission Line.

First Solar says the farm would produce up to 20 megawatts of power for Elgin and Middlesex counties. It would create about 300 jobs during the one-year construction period and a few permanent jobs in operation.

Dutton Solar Farm

Just north of the community of Dutton in the Municipality of Dutton/Dunwich, Henry Kemmerling is proposing to build a solar farm on his land with an unusual feature.

Kemmerling is proposing a photovoltaic facility to produce 5.9 megawatts of power. The design is based on panels supported by metal poles that are inserted inside large metal screws in the ground. The ground screws are manufactured by a German company called Krinner GmbH and sold in Canada by InnoTec Trading Ltd. Kemmerling says the construction technology would permit livestock to feed underneath the solar panels.

Injasuti Developments

Landowners in Central Elgin have formed a partnership called Injasuti Developments to develop two solar farms near each other on Fruit Ridge Line, about four kilometres southwest of St. Thomas. One solar farm is called Beaver Creek and the other Flowerburn.

Each farm is proposed to have 55 ground-mounted solar trackers producing 500 kilowatts of power. Injasuti Developments says it hopes to have the farms in operation in 2011.

Silvercreek Solar Farm

In the Township of Malahide, about nine kilometres south of Aylmer, Dave Moerman is proposing a $55-million construction project on his property at 49588 Vienna Line to build the Silvercreek Solar Farm.

Moerman says the farm is envisioned to produce 18 megawatts of power, enough to power 1,500 homes. The farm would have polycrystalline solar photovoltaic panels mounted on single-axis trackers. It would require a maintenance crew of four to six people. The company hopes to begin producing power by the end of 2011.

All of these projects require comprehensive stakeholder consultation, including the posting of draft studies and reports in advance of public meetings.