First Solar and the Sarnia solar farm

• First Solar is primarily a manufacturer, the world’s largest, of thin film modules. In addition to simply selling its modules directly to other developers, it also uses its internal project financing to develop projects in North America. Typically, before starting a project it will approach a number of potential owners and come to an agreement with the long-term owner before starting construction.

The world’s largest photovoltaic power installation: Enbridge’s 80 MW photovoltaic project in Sarnia, Ontario, has attracted international attention. Photo courtesy Enbridge.

• Optisolar (through its Ontario company Optisolar Farms Canada) started the project, but ran into financial difficulty during the 2008 financial meltdown, and was bought by First Solar, along with its portfolio of projects under development.

• The initial design called for amorphous silicon technology with an efficiency rating of 6%. When it acquired the project, First Solar cleared off the construction that had been done and changed the design to thin film cells using cadmium telluride, with an efficiency of almost 12% – thereby taking up less ground space while installing more capacity.

• The farm’s location is exceptional in being served by four distribution feeders, each one able to carry 20 MW.

• Hydro One has control of the field from its transformer station. Local distributor Bluewater Power can also turn it off remotely. The IESO will be able to sense it but not control it. The invertors have circuitry that senses grid conditions, and can turn themselves off within 75 – 150 milliseconds.

• Enbridge Inc. and First Solar, Inc. announced on October 4 of last year that the project had reached commercial operation.

• All the First Solar projects in Ontario, for a combined total of 190 MW, will have resulted in a billion dollars of investment in Ontario, and over 1000 person-years of employment during construction.

            » 80 MW in Sarnia

            » 5 MW Tilbury,

            » 15 MW Amherstberg2

            » 40 MW on two sites in St Clair Township, sold to NextEra /FPL at completion.

            » 50 MW at 3 locations: Amherstberg 1, Belmont, and in Walpole Township near Hagersville.

 

Related stories in this feature:

What’s behind Ontario’s PV boom?

Enbridge, First Solar announce more projects

Ontario’s solar sector evolves to meet the challenge of large scale application

The evolution of PV technology

CanSIA: Getting to 2025

Competition in the PV industry evolving quickly

Approaching grid parity

How much is solar actually costing us?

Extracting additional benefits from solar installations

City to build solar power