Direct Energy and Pure Energies, Inc. announced last month, a new partnership that takes advantage of the Ontario Green Energy Act’s lucrative feed-in tariff (FIT) program. Together, the two companies will offer packages tailored to the needs of individual home-owners, marrying solar PV technology with high-efficiency heating and cooling services and maintenance. Direct Energy and Pure Energies hope that this new partnership will help the environment while helping to expand the province’s green job market.
Pure Energies is a Toronto-based solar company that specializes in the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of solar systems. The company has carved out a niche in the Ontario solar industry by providing access to high-end solar technology at little or no cost to the consumer. This service enables the company and Ontarians to share the high prices offered by the FIT, which for residential-sized solar installations, range from 63.5 to 80.2 cents/kWh. These prices are locked into twenty-year contracts, for the duration of which Pure Energies guarantees its systems.
Direct Energy is an American provider of electrical and natural gas-related products. The company currently maintains 6 million company-customer relationships across Canada and the US.
Companies Help Satisfy Green Energy Act’s Goals
The arrangement between the two companies allows homeowners to make use of Direct Energy’s high-efficiency products and services, with the bill covered by energy sold into the grid from power generated by Pure Energies’ solar arrays. The new partnership will ultimately help reduce homeowners’ ecological footprints while saving them money. If successful, the arrangement could also help bring Ontario’s energy supply into the 21st century.
The full price of setting up a residential solar system, normally between $25,000 and $80,000, will be absorbed by the two companies, which they will reclaim at a profit by selling power into the grid at above-market rates. In exchange, customers receive a hassle-free opportunity to generate clean energy and save on electricity bills.
The Green Energy Act was signed into law in May of 2009 and enabled the creation of the FIT program, which, to date, has over 700 applications currently approved for renewable energy projects. Each of these projects is expected to provide green jobs and clean energy to Ontarians for the foreseeable future.
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