Shawn Jeffords From www.theobserver.ca The Observer
Bluewater Power Generation’s move into methane gas and solar technologies has become a $7-million investment.
The company, an arm of the local utility, is turning a small profit and has plans to grow, said chief operating officer Tim Vanderheide.
“It’s promising about a 10% of return overall,” he said. “It’s not huge, but it’s better than what you can get in the bank right now. Everything is backed by 20 year contracts for the power. We remain very risk cautious.”
The company has three projects on the go: methane gas capture and recovery at both the Sarnia landfill on Blackwell Road and the Petrolia landfill, and five solar panel arrays in Sarnia.
In addition to turning a profit, the green technologies are good teaching tools, Vanderheide said.
Learning more itself can help Bluewater Power Generation better inform customers about fly-by-night solar panel providers making promises they can’t back up, he said.
“There are a lot of people going around making pretty big claims, so we really wanted to try to get our heads around what is available.”
To that end, the company will be installing five different 10-kilowatt systems. Two will be ground-mounted and three mounted on roofs.
Installing and monitoring the system will help give the company valuable experience and eventually become an installer of choice locally, Vanderheide said.
“We’d like to build a portfolio of renewable projects over the next 10 or 15 years.” sjeffords@theobserver.ca
Observer Article ID# 2601664
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