York Region Solar Photovoltaic Feasibility Study

As part of its 2008 Strategic Energy Plan, Corporate Energy Services (CES) of the Regional Municipality of York committed to explore opportunities for renewable energy generation. In this Solar Photovoltaic Feasibility Study, CES evaluated the technical and economic viability of ground- and roof-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations at 10 locations belonging to the regional municipality. The region knew that it took 110,903,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy to operate its facilities in 2009, cost about $11 million, and generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of about 23,000 tonnes (partially offset by purchases through Bullfrog Power, a green energy supplier). Opportunities for renewable energy generation can vary by location and climate, and this feasibility study aimed to help the region identify the financial, physical, and logistical considerations for installing solar PV technology at selected facilities. Some of the issues to be considered included system sizes and types, required approvals, panel configurations and aesthetics, and a design-build scope of work for issuing requests for proposals. Integration of such systems into the region’s facilities would produce economic and social benefits from reductions in energy costs and reductions in GHG emissions that contributed to climate change. Actual reductions would depend on the size of the proposed systems. A conservative estimate anticipated that each of the 10 proposed sites could accommodate a 10-kilowatt system, potentially achieving a 26-tonne annual reduction in GHG emissions. The region could consider further expansion of this initiative during planning for future capital projects. In addition, its Solar Photovoltaic Feasibility Study report was to be shared through the Green Municipal Fund website, thus allowing any of Ontario’s 444 municipalities to replicate York Region’s study, to achieve cost and GHG savings of their own, and to create a revenue stream from Ontario’s renewable energy Feed-In Tariff program.

(Project description from original funding application)