Solar panels to top whisky depots; Hiram Walker plans huge project

Windsor Star
Wed Jul 13 2011
Page: A1 / Front
Section: News
Byline: Dylan Kristy
Source: The Windsor Star

It could be the largest venture of its kind in the country, if the authorities that oversee power production in Ontario allow it.
Windsor's Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. is hoping to become home to the largest rooftop solar plant in Canada, with more than 35,000 solar panels blanketing the surface of its Pike Creek warehouses in Lakeshore.
And while Jim Stanski is confident the project will be approved by the Ontario Power Authority, the vice-president of operations at Hiram Walker said he has some trepidation about the upcoming provincial election.
"We're basically ready to go, so we're just waiting on the OPA approval and we hope that an election won't torpedo the whole project," Stanski said Tuesday. He said OPA usually takes about six to eight months to approve a project and theirs was submitted five months ago.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has said that, if elected in October, he plans to scrap aspects of the Ontario Green Energy Act - including a multibillion-dollar deal with Samsung, which has been estimated to create up to 16,000 direct and indirect jobs across the province.
"Our government is proud of the success our clean energy investments and projects have had in replacing coal, cleaning our air, attracting investment and creating jobs," Brad Duguid, Ontario's energy minister, said in a statement.
"The only thing driving uncertainty right now is a political uncertainty brought about by Tim Hudak's reckless promise to kill our clean energy economy and take down thousands of jobs with it."
Built under the feed-in tariff program for renewable energy, the 7.9-megawatt project will cover nine of the 16 warehouses Hiram Walker uses to mature its bottles of whisky, near East Pike Creek Road and County Road 22 in Lakeshore.
The project is slated to be completed in partnership with Mississaugabased solar panel installer Solar and Alternative Technology Corp. and German-based manufacturer Soventix Canada Inc., pending approval by the OPA.
Mariana Marquez, spokeswoman for Soventix, said the advantage this project will have over others that have failed to receive approval is the combined experience of both companies.
She said Solar and Alternative Technology Corp. has been an industry leader for over 15 years, originally stemming from Germany, and Soventix is one of the largest fully integrated solar module manufacturers in the world.
"We are confident that everything will go through because it is a solid project and it comes from good companies," Marquez said.
"We have submitted all the information necessary and we're confident that everything is going to go well."
The companies have entered into a 20-year lease agreement with Hiram Walker and will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes and offset 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Instead of collecting revenue over the 20-year lease, Hiram Walker will received a lump sum payment that will be reinvested to purchase higher efficiency boilers for the distillery, Stanski said.
"We are actually looking at further reducing our greenhouse gas by another 20 per cent here on site if we get approved," he said, adding that the amount of the lump sum payment is confidential.
"Not only should this project be quite beneficial to the Province of Ontario's sustainability efforts but it also allows us to improve our processes while demonstrating our commitment to responsible production."