Greening the Grid in Mississauga
Mississauga, Ontario - Monday, January 25, 2010
Enersource teams up with small business owner to launch city’s first microFIT project
One local entrepreneur’s quest to go green is serving as a model for other Enersource customers after the successful launch of Mississauga’s first microFIT project earlier this month.
"This launch marks an important step in the future of Ontario’s changing energy market," said Craig Fleming, President & CEO, Enersource Corporation. "Enersource has long been an advocate of making renewable energy projects more accessible to our customers - to see these projects become a reality is extremely exciting for us."
With the installation of nine solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of his home, small business owner Snehal Pandya is one of 17 in the city to have received approval last month from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to generate renewable electricity under the province’s new microFIT guidelines.
After working with Enersource to install metering equipment and obtaining approval from the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), Pandya’s rooftop installation went ‘live’ in early January.
The project has a total generation capacity of 1.7 kW. Through his business, Infinite kWh Inc., Pandya is able to generate power through rooftop panels and feed it back to the grid. The small business also provides real-time web-based monitoring services for customers who want to know how much energy is being generated at any given time.
"The time to adopt ‘green power’ technologies for residential, commercial and industrial property owners has never been better," said Pandya. "Ontario’s new microFIT regulations and Enersource’s support and expertise made it possible for this project to go ‘live’ in the shortest possible timeframe."
The OPA’s microFIT program encourages the development of small-scale renewable energy (ten kilowatts or less) from a range of sources, including solar photovoltaic and wind installations on the rooftops of small businesses and homeowners, like Pandya. It falls under the broader Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program, which as a part of the province’s Green Energy Act, provides stable, guaranteed pricing to renewable energy producers of all sizes.
As the local energy distributor, Enersource saw an opportunity to help facilitate the adoption of renewable energy projects within the local community.
"The Green Energy Act has created many opportunities in the renewable market that didn’t exist before," added Fleming, "This is a new frontier and there are still challenges, but Enersource is ready and able to do our part in greening Mississauga."
Enersource
Enersource Corporation is a diversified energy and technologies company focusing on quality of service in the distribution of electricity, delivery of electricity conservation programs and smart metering solutions. The Corporation is 90 per cent owned by the City of Mississauga, and 10 per cent owned by BPC Energy Corporation (Borealis), a subsidiary of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
To learn more about Enersource, go to: www.enersource.com or follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/enersourcenews
Infinite kWh Inc.
Infinite kWh Inc. is a Mississauga-based Renewable Energy company focusing on providing end-to-end solutions in grid-tied Solar PV and wind power systems for home and commercial property owners such as strip malls, gas stations and smaller industrial businesses. Infinite kWh was founded in 2009 by local entrepreneur Snehal Pandya, a Physics and MBA graduate, with the purpose of helping property owners embrace the income generating opportunities of emerging "green power" technologies with state-of-the-art solutions and support services.
To learn more about Infinite kWh Inc, visit our website www.infinitekwh.com or find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Infinite-kWh-Inc/146097956210?ref=ts
For more information:
Michelle Pennell, Enersource
(905) 283-4295