Alderville wins Canadian Solar Industry Game Changer award
By Rick Garrick
Alderville’s success with its solar farm was recognized with a Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) Community/First Nations’ Solar Project Game Changer award on May 19.
“We’re averaging probably about $350,000 a month — that’s our gross income,” Alderville First Nation Chief JimBob Marsden says. “We do have staff working there now, two full-time who are being trained for the electrical components. So eventually we will be able to look after our own operation and maintenance. Right now we have to hire a company for the high-end electrical.”
Alderville First Nation Solar Inc. began construction on the 5 MW ground-mount solar farm project in 2009 and turned on the power in 2013. The solar farm, which contains about 23,000 solar panels, cost about $25 million. It was built on about 35 acres of band-owned land in the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand, Northumberland County.
“We’re the first and still maybe the only 100 per cent owned facility that big,” Marsden says. “Ours is 100 per cent owned by Alderville First Nation.”
Marsden says the solar farm was developed after consultations with the community, which includes about 330 on-reserve and about 800 off-reserve citizens.
“We brought it to the community — we did four community meetings — and we said if we go into this it’s going to be 100 per cent owned, which may have been a problem,” Marsden says, noting that any downtime could affect the company’s revenue. “But we did put insurance on it for something like that, for emergencies. If something happened and knocked out a piece of equipment, at least we would still have our revenue protected.”
Alderville has a 20-year Feed-in Tariff (FIT) contract with the Ontario Power Authority to purchase their solar power.
“Every month we get a cheque from Hydro One,” Marsden says. “We sell (power) to the grid so we get a monthly income, guaranteed 48 cents a kilowatt.”
Marsden says the community didn’t know anything about solar power when they began the project so they hired a University of Toronto professor to provide recommendations on the best panels and other details.
“We made a plan that any revenues, we wouldn’t touch them for two to three years to let the (business) operate,” Marsden says. “We do have a board set up at arms length from chief and council. So any business discussions will be taking place with this one board.”
About 35 community members received employment during the construction phase of the project.
“They were trained for putting the screw piles in,” Marsden says. “Some of them who built it work for other companies now installing solar farms.”
Alderville also trained six community members in security to protect the construction materials during the building process.
“So they are licensed security now,” Marsden says.
The CanSIA Game Changer awards are held to celebrate solar industry leaders and innovators across the country.
“Solar energy is a leading solution for the world’s climate challenges,” says John Gorman, CanSIA president and CEO. “The 2016 solar industry Game Changer award winners have showcased their creativity, ingenuity and passion in providing best in class products and services, as Canadians demand more progressive action on climate and energy issues.”
Information on the award is available online at: myemail.constantcontact.com/Congratulations-to-our-Game-Changer-Award-Winners–.html?soid=1102701457567&aid=_lPPNi0jZrA.
Marsden says the community was represented by two maintenance staff at the Game Changer Awards Gala in Niagara Falls.
“The community is very proud of it,” Marsden says. “Our maintenance supervisor Syd Marsden was holding the award. It is the shape of the sun, so we are very proud of it.”