“Later this year North Bay will be opening a world class Community Energy Park and, in addition to providing significant energy savings to the YMCA and Memorial Gardens, it will also add important backup energy infrastructure to our community.
Of the overall cost of several million dollars, The City of North Bay’s share will be limited to $260,000 as we will benefit from significant Provincial and Federal energy funding incentives, something like paying $15,000 for a $260,00 house, so my own perspective is that this is an excellent investment for us to make as a community.
Solar power can now be generated more cost effectively than the costs of conventional electricity in several North American energy markets, including Ontario. More than 50 businesses, apartment complexes and homes in North Bay are dependent on solar power and it is a growing component of the local economy.
The recent comment that “our local hydro is incurring millions of dollars in debt to get the project up and running” is simply incorrect. The further statement “ it will cost millions of dollars more to keep it running” is equally incorrect as the maintenance of the Energy Park will be significantly less than much of our power generation infrastructure that would otherwise be used.
See: OPINION: Neal McNamara, The Hydro Edition – Part 2
North Bay is indeed fortunate to have the ability of the North Bay Hydro staff and local engineers, consultants and contractors to bring a project like this to our community.”
Chris Mayne, North Bay
