Waterloo Council favours solar power farm
by Kevin Swayze, RECORD STAFF /June 05, 2008
Source: The Record.com
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/361803
A gravel pit is a better place to build a solar electricity generating operation than a proposed farmland site along Highway 401, a township councillor says. “It’s not using this land to its potential at all . . . it’s a shame to use it this way,” said Gord Taylor, a farmer who was uneasy with what he saw as loss of prime farmland. Taylor was speaking at a township council meeting called to hear details of a proposal for an eventual $24 million array of solar panels on Tim Barrie’s farm on King’s Road near Highway 401.
Arise Technologies said a gravel pit could be used for a solar farm, but there are other criteria that are critical, said Jan van der Woerd, the company’s sales manager. The Waterloo-based solar power company plans to build solar farms across Ontario to generate 100 megawatts of power, including an eventual three megawatt operation in a field rented on the Barrie farm. The first phase is planned to be one megawatt, enough to power 500 homes.
After the meeting, van de Woerd said gravel pits are often mined below the water table, leaving them wet and unsuitable for the foundations needed to hold the solar panels. North Dumfries, however, doesn’t allow digging below the water table. But overriding provincial planning rules do. Arise proposes a site specific approval to allow the solar farm.
Nobody spoke out against the Arise solar plan at the public meeting. The 6.1-hectare (15.1-acre) field needs to sit fallow for the next 20 years anyway, to recover from growing asparagus for the last two decades, van der Woerd said. Clover or grass would be planted between the solar panels to rejuvenate the soil, so it could grow crops again in 20 years after a provincial power contract expires and the panels are removed as a condition township approval, he said.
No decisions were made about the proposal this week. Township planner Steve Jefferson said a recommendation to council may be ready for a vote in early July.