Loblaws to tap Ontario program with solar panels

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Canada's largest supermarket chain plans to install rooftop solar panels on many of its Loblaws stores in Ontario, becoming one of the first companies to jump aboard the province's new renewable-energy program.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid was at a Loblaws Supermarket in Toronto announcing that the province is awarding its first contracts under the so-called feed-in-tariff program (FIT), which pays premium prices for renewable power. It is Mr. Duguid's first major announcement since he took over the ministry in January.

The program, billed as the first of its kind in North America and a cornerstone of the McGuinty government's Green Energy Act, has generated enormous interest from potential participants since it was launched last September.

Officials from Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and the Ontario Power Authority, the province's planning arm responsible for the FIT program, declined to comment. But sources in the energy sector said Loblaw plans to use solar panels on some of its stores as a renewable source of electricity.

The number of companies that applied to the FIT program far exceeded the expectations of officials at the Ontario Power Authority, the sources said. The government is luring green-energy investors with the promise of generous long-term contracts that include a guaranteed revenue stream. Contract holders receive a fixed price over 20 years for the electricity they produce - 13.5 cents a kilowatt hour for on-shore wind farms and up to 80.2 cents for solar power.

The contracts are among those that can be connected quickly to the province's electricity grid, the sources said.

The FIT program is part of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's push to create North America's first green-energy manufacturing sector. The signature piece of that strategy is the province's $7-billion deal with a consortium led by South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group, which plans to invest in enough wind and solar electricity projects to light up more than 580,000 homes in the province.