Thirty aboriginal communities across the province will explore opportunities to develop renewable energy projects thanks to grants from the Aboriginal Renewable Energy Fund (AREF) for the development of solar, wind, bio-energy and hydro-electric generation facilities.
The communities have received grants ranging from $11,000 to $500,000 from the fund to assist with pre-construction costs associated with project development.
AREF supports First Nation and Métis communities to develop renewable energy projects. The fund provides up to $500,000 per project for activities such as developing a business plan, conducting a resource assessment, project coordination and completing studies required for renewable energy approvals. Five rounds of community projects have been funded since the program was launched last year. To date, more than $4 million has been awarded through the fund.
In a related development, the first round of recipients of the Community Energy Partnerships Program (CEPP) Education Grant awards has also been announced. The grants are available to organizations proposing to develop new community power education projects. More than 40 organizations submitted applications. The applications were then reviewed by two review committees. A total of $483,004 in grants was awarded to six organizations.
The CEPP’s education grants are designed to educate communities about the development of renewable energy generation facilities; encourage local community engagement, participation and investment in renewable energy projects by increasing awareness of renewable energy; and provide funding for education involving a diversity of technology types and geographic regions in Ontario.
Grant recipients included the following:
- Environment Hamilton Incorporated, for “the Hamilton Halton Energy Awareness Team (HHEAT)”
- Faith and the Common Good, for “Renewable Energy for Faith Communities”
- Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, for “Community Power Roadmap to Success”
- Nipissing University Biomass Innovation Centre, for “Renewable Energy Partnership Project for Blue Sky Communities”
- Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, for “TABIA Go Renewable”
- Agrienergy Producers' Association of Ontario, for “Growing Ontario's Biogas Industry.”