Univ. Toronto, ARISE Technologies and Portlands Energy Centre partner to
make Toronto a leader in solar power research
Toronto, ON, January11, 2007
source: AriseTech MEDIA RELEASE /Jan 11, 2007
http://www.arisetech.com/images/stories/documents/press/solarpr-final2.pdf
The University of Toronto (U of T), ARISE Technologies and The Portlands Energy Centre (PEC) have joined forces to create Canada’s largest solar research facility, which will be located on the PEC site on Toronto’s waterfront. “This project will establish Toronto and Ontario as a world leader in solar energy research and development and education,” said Energy Minister Dwight Duncan. “Solar and other forms of renewable energy are an important part of Ontario’s energy future. When completed, the facility will harvest enough solar energy to power up to 1,000 homes. The community will be able to participate through a community based share offering.
Under the agreement announced today, PEC will provide land worth about $2.4 million. ARISE will design and install a photo power system utilizing high efficiency photovoltaic (PV) cell technology developed by ARISE and U of T. The solar park will create between 500 kilowatts and 1 megawatt, representing an investment between $5 to $8 million.
U of T students and staff at ARISE will use the facility to conduct research on renewable energy systems and technologies. This will help develop the utilization of PV systems for commercial and utility scale systems. The PEC site is an ideal location for this project as it’s an urban setting close to the university, has access to transmission lines and offers a large tract of land with an unobstructed southern exposure.
Later this year, ARISE will issue a community based share offering that will allow residents to participate in the project. Standard Offer Contract details with the Ontario Power Authority and government officials regarding permits have not been finalized. Details on the community share offering and exact size of the facility will be announced at a later date. The project is expected to be installed in late 2008 or early 2009.
“We’re thrilled to be part of this project and help create the path to a more sustainable future. We’re looking forward to working with ARISE and the students,” said Jim Burpee, PEC Chairman. “This is an excellent opportunity for our students to get first hand exposure to commercial scale solar electric systems,” said Nazir Kherani, a Photovoltaics Professor at U of T. “In addition, the facility will provide a research venue for large scale, grid connected photovoltaic systems,” said Reza Iravani, an Energy Systems Professor at the University.
“We are very pleased to be involved with this and will use this project as a large scale deployment of our high efficiency PV cells. We expect that the cells used in modules for this project will be produced by one of our partner companies. This project will provide an opportunity for our systems group to study and optimize implementation of large scale systems for deployment in Ontario,” commented Ian MacLellan, President and CEO of ARISE.
About PEC
The Portlands Energy Centre is a high-efficiency, combined cycle, natural gas generation plant designed to meet downtown Toronto’s urgent need for electricity. The facility is expected be operational in simple cycle mode and delivering electricity to the city in the summer of 2008. When completed in 2009, the plant will provide up to 550 megawatts of power under the ACES
contract – which is about 25 per cent of central Toronto’s needs. PEC is a limited partnership of Ontario Power Generation Inc. and TransCanada Energy Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of TransCanada Corporation.
About ARISE
ARISE Technologies is dedicated to accelerating the use of solar energy in mainstream North American markets. The Company’s shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol APV and on the Frankfurt Open Market Exchange under the symbol A3T. Additional information is available at www.arisetech.com and www.sedar.com.