Firm glowing over new solar regs

A local solar company is beaming today, confident Ontario's new green energy legislation means a bright future for their firm and, possibly, the local manufacturing sector.

"It's great news for us, not such great news for my kids - they're not going to see their father very much," said Mike Jordan, of Upper Canada Solar Generation.

Jordan was reacting to new regulations for solar and wind renewable energy projects unveiled Thursday by the provincial government.

He said his cellphone has been "just nuts" in the wake of this week's announcement.

The legislation - subject of criticism from some in the renewable sector - includes restrictions on where wind and solar projects can be built, as well as establishing new made-in-Ontario content rules.

But Jordan maintained the regulations will enhance, not hamper, Upper Canada's ability to get new installations started.

The key reason, he said, is the company has developed its own tracker - the device that moves the solar panels, allowing them to follow the sun. With that device manufactured in-house, it appears Upper Canada will meet the requirement for solar energy projects to have between 40 and 50 per cent Ontario content on labour and components.

Wind projects must be one-quarter made-in-Ontario.

"The Ontario content is nice. It's going to be good for us because we've been developing our own tracker," said Jordan, indicating there may even be an opportunity to market their technology now.

"Whether it's the best tracker in the world or not doesn't matter because it's made in Ontario."

He said they have been testing a prototype tracker for the past two-plus months at the company's location on County Road 29 in Elizabethtown-Kitley Township.

Although he conceded the tracker's technology is "pretty basic stuff," with parts sourced from a Kingston auto supplier, Jordan stressed, "it's 100 per cent made in Ontario ... which makes our tracker pretty attractive."

It's great news for us, not such great news for my kids - they're not going to see their father very much...