Solar farm proposed

Author: Frank Matys

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About $200-million worth of solar panels are proposed for a site on the 9th Line in Oro-Medonte.

Oro-Medonte farmland is at the heart of a multi-million dollar plan to harness the sun’s energy.
Power generated by a massive solar field would be fed directly to the provincial grid through the Orillia transmission station, according to the planning firm representing Helios Energy.
Solar panels would cover about 60 per cent of the property’s 380 acres and produce enough power to supply about 3,000 homes.
“This is a major investment,” said Ray Duhamel, of Jones Consulting Group Inc.
The property, which the company has leased, is south of Highway 400, between the eighth and ninth concessions.
A flat site with access to the highway made it an ideal candidate for the project, Duhamel said.
“Simcoe County has reasonable sunshine to make it fly,” he added.
The county’s new Official Plan recognizes “green” energy as an acceptable use for farmland, though Oro-Medonte’s plan does not.
Whether township council approves the necessary rezoning may prove irrelevant if the province passes the Green Energy Act, legislation that would pave the way for such projects and supercede municipal planning policy.
“There is every indication it is going to be passed,” Hughes said.
Homeowners along the ninth concession say their picturesque views will be permanently obscured, should Helios Energy blanket a nearby field with large solar panels that could at times reach nearly 14 feet in height.
“We bought here because the view is perfect, it is nice, open country,” said Carl Swanson, a retired police officer who moved to the area 15 years ago.
An application for the solar energy project is now before the township, said Mayor Harry Hughes.
“I don’t think anyone has a disagreement with creating energy from sunlight,” he said. “Everyone recognizes we have to have hydro produced from some source. It is a matter of which source people have a preference for.”
Hughes supports the call for environmentally friendly energy sources, but wants to learn more about the project that is said to represent an investment of more than $200 million.
“I haven’t got all the data yet,” he added. “Whenever you bring something in, it is going to have an impact one way or the other. And we have to decide that as a council.”
Duhamel said the company is aware of local concerns, and has offered to plant a thick vegetative border to lessen the visual impact of the solar farm.
“Some people just won’t like (the project) because it is change,” he said. “Some people like looking at that agricultural field and don’t want to look at solar panels.”
The public would have an opportunity to weigh in on the matter in future, Hughes added.
“People don’t have enough information enough yet to make up their mind one way or the other,” he said.
Hughes said the project would prove less of a boon to the economy revenue-wise, as energy projects aren’t expected to face the higher property taxes applied to industrial/commercial properties under the proposed “green” act.
“But that shouldn’t be the driving force,” he added. “The driving force should be, is it the right thing to do?”
Beyond the tax revenue to be gained by the township is the potential for local jobs, Duhamel said.
“You don’t develop a $200 million project without needing concrete, fencing and landscaping people,” he added. “You need truckers.”