Big solar farm coming to Pinewood area

News Release
RRFN

June 13, 2013 - Rainy River First Nations announced today that Rainy River First Nations Solar Partnership (“RRFNs Solar Partnership”) and Ontario Solar PV Fields (“OSPVF”), a joint venture between ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. and Global PVQ Canada Corp., have entered into a purchase and sale agreement, whereby RRFNs Solar Partnership will acquire three utility-scale solar projects totalling 25 MW from OSPVF.
“Rainy River First Nations is excited to be entering into this agreement with OSPVF. From the beginning, Rainy River First Nations’ vision for getting into the renewable energy generation business has been, first and foremost, to create an energy assistance fund through the allocation of a portion of the profits generated by the projects. These funds would be used to provide a resource to assist our band members, living both on and off of our reserve lands, with their utility costs. The signing of the agreement is the first step in achieving this goal, and we look forward to building the projects and seeing them become operational,” said Chief Jim Leonard of Rainy River First Nations.
The three solar projects are located in Ontario’s Rainy River District and have 20-year Feed-in-Tariff Program power purchase agreements with the Ontario Power Authority. Construction activities on the three projects are expected to begin in 2013, and the projects are expected to achieve commercial operation in 2014. Cedarvale Energy will assist Rainy River First Nations in the development of the solar projects. “We are very fortunate to be a partner with Rainy River First Nations in these renewable energy projects and we look forward to completing them with a standard of care commensurate with our joint intentions of owning and operating the projects for the long term,” said Scott Frazer, Managing Director of Cedarvale Energy.
The projects are expected to create more than 300 new jobs during the development and construction phases. The electricity generated, on an emission free basis, by the projects is expected to be sufficient to power approximately 3,900 homes.
Dean Wilson, Manager of Administration for Rainy River First Nations, said “We are very excited about the economic prospects for the local economy given that the cost to complete the projects will be in the $100 million range. We are committed to see that as much of these dollars in development, construction, and labor are spent locally to support our community and local municipalities.“
The transaction is subject to a number of approvals and conditions, including RRFNs Solar Partnership securing financing for the projects. The parties expect the transaction to close in the latter part of calendar 2013. OSPVF will retain 25% ownership of the projects until the projects reach commercial operation, which is expected to happen in the second half of calendar 2014.