Purolator leases out Ontario roof space to solar power firm
Canadian parcel delivery company Purolator has stumbled onto a top money-making idea – which will also help fight climate change and improve air quality. It is leasing out the expansive roofs on five of its processing facilities in Ontario to a solar power company to use, to set up solar panels to generate renewable electricity.
US solar company SunEdison will install the solar panels, maintain the solar panels and own the equipment – and will also sell the 1.14 megawatts (MW) of power generated by the panels to the local power authority, the Ontario Power Authority.
All Purolator has to do is sit back and enjoy the leasing income for previously unused roofspace.
The deal with SunEdison, a Maryland-based subsidiary of Missouri-based semiconductor giant MEMC, also includes the option to put solar panels on a further six Purolator buildings to effectively double the solar panel output from the project.
Jim McLellan, real estate director at Purolator, which is majority-owned by Canada Post, said: “The SunEdison solution creates a triple benefit: the revenue generated from the program assists with investments in future capabilities, it produces clean energy by harnessing the power of the sun and it creates green jobs for Ontario.”
Benefits
Partnering with a company like SunEdison can mean enjoying income from solar projects without building owners having to put in upfront capital for the equipment
Under the initial phase of the project, solar panels are to be installed on Purolator buildings in Etobicoke, Ottawa, Hamilton and Pickering. Although the exact dimensions of the solar installations will depend on the specifics of the roofs involved, industry estimates suggest the planned 1.14MW phase would require about 140,000 square feet of roof space.
Along with the leasing benefits to Purolator and the electricity sales for SunEdison, the companies said the project would have the equivalent environmental benefits to removing more than 1,000 cars from the road.
Sarah Simmons, government affairs manager at SunEdison Canada, said the Purolator project is being supported by Ontario’s feed-in tariffs (FIT) program, in which the municipal power authority guarantees an above-market price for electricity generated by the solar panels.
She said that while Canada might not have a reputation as a particularly sunny place, it does enjoy similar amounts of sunshine to global solar market leaders Germany.
Similar solar incentive programs to that in Ontario are now being considered in various parts of the US including Los Angeles, and are already becoming widespread in Europe. However, Simmons said places where FITs are not provided, SunEdison offers solar power through a different model – it still does all the work, but sells the solar power directly back to the building owner.
One key benefit for SunEdison is that setting up solar panels on buildings means that solar installations are not using undeveloped land – making it easier to get plannintg permission.
“A lot of different types of industry have suitable buildings like Purolator – and these buildings are going to be great for generating solar power,” said Simmons. “Purolator has interest in genuinely promoting solar energy and taking advantage of becoming an early adopter.”
