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OTTAWA – With the Green Energy and Green Economy Act
and the announcement of new Feed in Tariffs pending, the
Canadian Solar Industries Association and the Gandalf Group went
to Ontarians to hear what they think of solar and are pleased to
report that a majority support solar and solar development on
farms as an option for clean energy.
"We found that Ontarians readily see the benefits of solar as a
renewable energy and how it can be a boon to rural areas," said
Elizabeth McDonald, CanSIA President. "What was very
interesting in our findings was that most supported a limit to
how much actual farmland could be used for solar energy, but
once we delved into that sentiment, that limit is 250 times what
the solar industry could ever envision using."
The online survey conducted for CanSIA interviewed 600 Ontarians
and a further 600 in rural regions of the province between June
30 and July 9. Both rural residents and respondents
province-wide agreed farmers should be allowed to install solar
panels as a means of revenue generation as well as renewable
energy generation. Farmers have the option precisely because
installations are designed to be removed and the land
can be returned to farmland.
- 79 per cent Ontario-wide and 81 per cent of residents
in rural districts believe it would be unfair if people in
cities were allowed to install solar panels on their
property but farmers were not allowed to do the same.
- 74 per cent Ontario-wide and 75 per-cent of residents in
rural districts believe if industrial land owners are
allowed to install solar panels on their land, then farmers
should be allowed to do the same.
- 79 per cent Ontario-wide and 80 per cent of residents in
rural districts believe farmers should be allowed to install
solar panels instead of growing crops on some of their land
so they have another possible source of income.
"The survey supports what I believe as a local farmer – I
should be able to use solar panels much the same as I can to
raise crops that are then made into energy such as corn for
ethanol, switch grass for pellets," said Ray Roth, a
farmer and renewable energy developer with Saturn Power. "The
difference is that solar panels are benign to the land and can
actually help it by letting it regenerate while laying fallow."
"Ontarians support solar energy as well as government support
for solar initiatives very strongly," said Alex Swann of
the Gandalf Group. "A majority agreed the province should allow
solar farms on agricultural land, and we found that
province-wide and in rural districts. There is strong support
for allowing individual choice among farmers to develop solar
farms, especially so they can have additional sources of
income."
Copies of the survey are available through the contact below.
The Canadian Solar Industries Association’s mission is to
develop a strong, efficient, ethical and professional Canadian
solar industry, able to service an expanding domestic energy
market, to provide innovative solar solutions to world energy
problems, and to play a major role in promoting the transition
to a solar energy future worldwide.
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