SunE Rutley Solar Farm now online
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Will produce 10 megawatts of energy per year.
SunEdison’s SunE Rutley Solar Farm, the first utility-scale solar power project to qualify for Ontario’s feed-in-tariff (FIT), is now online, government officials announced today.
Located near Cornwall, Ont., in Ingleside, part of the township of South Stormont, the SunE Rutley Solar Farm will produce 10 megawatts (MW) of energy per year—enough to power 1,200 homes. The system covers 90 acres of land—approximately the size of 50 Canadian football fields—and includes 42,000 solar panels.
“The SunE Rutley Solar Farm is a welcome addition to Ontario’s thriving clean energy sector, and companies like Flextronics continue to grow our province’s manufacturing expertise,” Chris Bentley, Ontario’s minister of energy, said.
“We are increasing our supply of renewable energy, creating good clean jobs and ensuring cleaner air for future generations.
The FIT program requires 60 percent domestic content by using solar PV panels, inverters and racking structures manufactured in Ontario.
“Projects such as this contribute to positive economic growth throughout the region by using workers from our community,” Bryan McGillis, mayor of the Township of South Stormont, said last November.
The SunE Rutley farm solar farm created about 100 jobs at peak construction and the project allowed solar panel manufacturer, Flextronics, to employ 400 additional people at its facility in Newmarket, Ont. The company manufactures solar panels developed by MEMC Electronics Inc., SunEdison’s parent company.
SunEdison also partners with Samco Solar, a division of the Scarborough, Ont.-based, Samco Machinery Ltd., for its solar racking equipment.
Since 2009, officials say more than 30 businesses have announced they are setting up or expanding plants in Ontario to manufacture parts for the solar and wind industries. So far, green energy initiatives in the province have created over 20,000 jobs.
Ontario has about 500 MW of solar PV capacity online and has more than 1,600 MW of additional solar PV capacity under contract— enough to power about 250,000 homes.
