Turns out another of the Ontario Power Authority Small Feed-in Tariff contracts went to a TAF-funded initiative, SolarShare. The FIT contracts will add another 4.9 megawatts of projects to SolarShare’s portfolio by offering 13 new rooftop solar projects in Ontario (enough to power 490 homes). SolarShare is now poised to become the largest renewable energy co-operative in Canada.
Resco Energy installing racking on SolarShare's first project in Toronto, the 'Goodmark Project,' July 2013.
We’re thrilled to see SolarShare doing so well. And we’re not surprised. They are true leaders and innovators. Their groundbreaking work, which started with a few small projects in farmers’ fields in 2010, is leading the way in renewable energy bonds and co-operatives.
With these new contracts, SolarShare will be looking to raise a significant amount of capital from the community and from other impact investors that want to help grow the sector by investing locally and ethically in a portfolio of community-owned renewable energy projects. TAF often invests in initiatives that help to create systemic change and now that they have a proven model, we would expect to see other foundations and mission-aligned institutions starting to invest in SolarShare.
SolarShare currently owns 780 kilowatts of solar energy capacity on the grid, and is looking to grow. We’re sure that this FIT is just the first step in SolarShare’s ever-brightening future.