Cumberland candidate suggests solar power initiative to line city coffers

One east end municipal candidate is looking to the sky to generate new revenue for the city.

Cumberland candidate Stephen Blais said he’d like the City of Ottawa to lease city-owned rooftops to local companies generating energy from solar panels. The municipality could collect royalties on the electricity generated without assuming the risk of setting up the operation, he indicated.

“By partnering with local businesses to go solar, we will be able to generate new revenues for the city,” Blais said. “New revenues generated by these opportunities can be used to reinvest in these city-owned facilities.”

Under Ontario’s feed-in tariff program, the Ontario Power Authority promises green energy producers a fixed price for the electricity they produce over a 20-year contract. Rates vary depending on the source of power and the amount generated, but rooftop solar panels can bring in between 53.9 and 71.3 cents per kilowatt hour. According to the Power Authority’s website, the payments are designed to cover typical capital and operating costs and to provide a reasonable return on investment over the term of the contract.

Blais said a public-private partnership (P3) would be the best way to proceed because “capital costs to install the panels can be troublesome.” The city should invite local companies to bid on leasing opportunities for access to the city-owned rooftops. The winning bidders would then bear the cost of purchasing and installing the solar panels. By selling the electricity back to the OPA, companies would recoup their start-up costs and make a profit. Royalties, meanwhile, would be paid to the city based on the sale of electricity to the power grid.

That extra money could be used to maintain the city facility where the panels are located, Blais said, so money currently used on city-owned buildings can be redirected to other projects, like road maintenance.

The idea isn’t without precedence, as companies in the Ottawa region are already competing to sign deals with owners of prime rooftop locations.

In the east end, Loblaw Companies Ltd. announced plans to install rooftop solar panels on its Innes Road store as part of a pilot project that could see the grocery chain outfitting up to 136 of its Ontario locations with the renewable energy technology.

The announcement was part of more than 500 private projects approved by the Ontario Power Authority across the province March 9. Loblaw will start with four installations in partnership with Northland Power Rooftop Solar. The Orléans project will have a capacity of up to 500 kilowatts.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board, meanwhile, will install two large solar panels on the roof of the new Kanata North Elementary School, a move that was supported by Blais in his capacity as trustee. In that case, the board is footing the bill instead of partnering with a private company, Blais indicated. He added the board expects to bring in about $54,000 per year by selling electricity back into the grid. The money will be used to pay for the natural gas, electricity and water bill at the school, Blais said.

With “dozens and dozens of buildings” available, there’s an opportunity for the city to make a lot of money, Blais indicated. “City hall has to stop thinking of taxpayers as ATMs with unlimited money at our disposal,” he said. “We need to create new revenue streams that will give taxpayers a break.”

With files from Peter Kovessy