Huron Expositor, 2016-07-27, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, July 27, 2016
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Solar project on route for big profits
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
In 2011, Huron East
decided to invest in the
uprising popularity known
as solar trackers. Throughout
the municipality eight have
been installed, the $500,000
"business plan" is precisely
on target to cover the capital
investment.
Currently, the eight instal-
lations are stretched out
across the borough, the two
most notable are located at
Seaforth's water plant and
one at the Brussels sewage
plant. Between all of the
solar trackers they accumu-
late about 80 kilowatts of
power.
Solar trackers usually are
used to boost the energy
production from solar pan-
els and solar receivers. The
solar tracker is a piece of
equipment that accurately
pursues the movement of
the sun while it daily rotates
from the east to the west.
When all these counterparts
are used together correctly,
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there is usually an increase
in output of about 20-30 per
cent, according to the
Renewable Energy World
website.
A fan of the Green Energy
experiment, Huron East
CAO Brad Knight, presented
his fellow council members
July 19 at the bi-weekly
meeting in Seaforth with a
report relating to the pro-
gress, alongside other sug-
gestions revolving around
the solar investment. He
expects this plan to reinvig-
orate Huron East in a signifi-
cant way.
"We are going to make
money from these solar
installations, then turn it
around and have council
reinvest it,” explained Knight
last Wednesday, a day after
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he presented council with
the report.
"It kind of closes the loop,
if you've made money from
the Green Energy, we are
going to invest it, in energy
efficiencies."
Knight said the initial plan
is to aim at high-energy
users, such as the arenas and
Public Works because the
original money came from
the general levy. The only
logical outcome would be to
give back to those facilities.
He admitted that the
arrangement comes at an
ideal time as the recreational
establishments are experi-
encing a significant plight
surrounding costs.
"It's been a good experi-
ment for us, what I like
about (it) is that council
Shaun Gregory
At the last council
meeting, Huron
East CAO Brad
Knight presented
his fellow
colleagues with
a report on the
solar trackers
the municipality
purchased for
$500,000. In a few
years the capital
investment will be
paid off and from
there on out, a
significant chunk
of revenue will
follow.
has bought into it. And it
allows us to maybe get
some equipment upgrades
that would be (a) little
tough to do, (if it was not
for the solar trackers.)"
Since council chose to
pursue this ingenuity as a
business plan, three per-
cent is paid on the reserve
money; along with rent
from Huron East's own
property. This pushes the
payment plan a little far-
ther back, however Knight
said the money would be
all reimbursed by the 8th
year.
`It's great to hear that report
that we are actually going to
make some money for a
change, said Huron East, Dep-
uty Mayor Joe Steffler while
most of council chuckled.
All the businesses
for their generous
donations & supportoo
for a successful
eaforth Summerfest