Community Power – Democratizing Solar Power with Community Funding will take place on Monday February 10, 2014, 11:30am-1:00pm, Ottawa University, Social Sciences Building, FSS 4007. This talk will cover details on the feed-in-tariff program, solar photovoltaic systems, and the community power/renewable energy co-operative model (specific examples from the Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-op), including the regulatory framework, the business model and governance implications.
The 2009 Green Energy Act in Ontario provides for individual households and larger corporations to generate renewable electricity (RE) and sell it to the grid. Guaranteed elevated prices, or feed-in-tariffs, for electricity generated are provided to offset the capital investments in the systems, such that small positive returns are available. The program has been very successful, attracting more than 24,000 residential size system owners, which has driven down the costs of renewable energy systems and made a cleaner grid in Ontario. This talk will cover details on the feed-in-tariff program, solar photovoltaic systems, and the community power/RE cooperative model, including the regulatory framework, the business model and governance implications.
This event is of interest for political scientists, engineers, planners, business scholars and anyone interested in new models of electricity governance or in citizen engagement and capacity building toward sustainable energy futures.
Speakers
Joan Haysom, PhD: Senior Researcher and Project Manager at the SUNLAB research group at uOttawa Electrical Engineering. She has been on the Board of Directors for OREC since Jan. 2011.
Stewart Fast, PhD: Stewart is a postdoctoral fellow and instructor in the Geography Department at Queen’s University in Kingston. He joined OREC’s board in 2013.
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Ottawa’s Collaboratorium on Energy Research and Policy and the Centre on Governance, who are generously providing light refreshments.
For more information or to register click here.
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