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ENVIRONMENT
14 Glebe Report March 10, 2017

Grassroots investment in solar energy

by Aaron Thornell forward. The co-op sets out to form
a partnership with local building and
Many have turned to within their own land owners in Eastern Ontario who
communities for solutions in the face are interested in installing large renew-
of rising concerns surrounding how able energy systems on their roofs or
our energy is produced and the effect land. Once a 20-year lease agreement
that such practices have on our planet’s with these owners has been signed, the
health. The Ottawa Renewable Energy co-op sets about generating the funds
Cooperative (OREC) is an example of for these projects, done through pool-
one such solution that simultaneously ing investments from its members.
seeks to generate decentralized renew- Here, the Ontario Green Energy Act’s Photo: Courtesy of oreC
able energy and build community within feed-in tariff (FIT) program comes into
Eastern Ontario. OREC provides the play. These projects, when installed,
opportunity for residents of Ottawa and are connected to Ontario’s energy
Eastern Ontario to invest in and own grid and the co-op is guaranteed to OREC’s 10 kW project on Presland Non-Profit Housing on Presland Road in Ottawa
renewable energy projects, and recently receive tariff rates for every kilowatt
announced its fifth share offering. hour produced over the course of 20
OREC got its start following the years through 20-year FIT contracts This particular securities offering economy have gotten away from the
Ontario government’s launch of signed with the Independent Electri- could not be timelier given the context main purpose of sharing and mutual
the Green Energy Act in 2009 that city System Operator (IESO). Finally, of the provincial, national, and even provisioning of ordinary people,” said
contained programs aimed at stimu- the revenue generated from these pro- international debates about energy. Shackleton. “The opportunity to invest
lating investment and growth in the jects is then distributed among co-op Many readers are undoubtedly familiar in green energy in our community
field of renewable energy. I spoke members in proportion to the size of with the increasing rates of electricity helps to pull us back to the roots of our
with two of OREC’s co-founders, their investments. in Ontario, something that has gener- economy. Hopefully this will spread to
Roger Peters and Keith Shackleton, “It was more difficult than we thought, ated a multitude of opinions on where other community ventures.”
who live in the Glebe area. to start with. The idea of someone else to place the blame. The aforementioned “There aren’t many opportunities these
“A number of us were actively owning a solar energy system on your Green Energy Act has often been days to put your savings into something
involved in environmental issues,” building was kind of new,” Peters scapegoated, despite the fact that the locally,” said Peters. “So I think that
said Shackleton. “When the Ontario recalls. “But when we went to sell the costs of renewable energy (not includ- caught people’s imagination and still
Green Energy Act was passed, we saw shares, we found we had to cut it off, or ing hydroelectric) make up a meagre does. People want to put their effort and
an opportunity to create a co-opera- else we would raise too much. So that nine per cent of the average Ontario their investment into things that produce
tive venture that would advance the was very encouraging.” energy bill. In reality, investments local benefits and community.”
transition to greener energy, increase The co-op has financed or co- towards refurbishing nuclear plants and Visit www.orec.ca for more infor-
community awareness and collab- financed 13 projects to date and is transmission infrastructure are the pri- mation about becoming a co-op
oration and allow people to make a made up of 615 members with 15 mary cause for rate increases. member, investing, and OREC events
decent return by investing.” per cent living in the Glebe and Old While far-reaching, complex issues taking place near you.
“The motivation was really to be able Ottawa South. Now the opportun- of climate change and the Alberta tar
to invest in solar because we couldn’t ity comes to increase those figures, sands may seem to fall outside of the Aaron Thornell is a recent under-
do it ourselves,” Peters told me. “The as OREC has recently launched its scope of a group like OREC, they bring graduate from St. Francis Xavier
other objective was to encourage local fifth and most ambitious securities to mind the helpful community-ori- University where he studied com-
ownership, which has turned out to be offering. OREC is aiming to raise $2 ented adage: Think globally, act locally. munity development and history. He
something that lots of people like.” million before the end of April 2017 “For some of us, it seems that some currently volunteers with the Ottawa
OREC’s basic structure is straight- to finance four new projects. aspects of both the local and global Renewable Energy Co-op.

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