Calgary’s Sustainable Energy Technologies, Ltd. (Sustainable) and Listowal, Ontario’s Ideal Supply Company, Ltd. (Ideal) have recently announced that Ideal has selected Sustainable’s SUNERGY(TM) photovoltaic inverter for its work in the Ontario solar energy industry. Sustainable will begin to train Ideal dealers on the technical and sales aspects of its inverters this month.
Sustainable labels itself “Canada’s solar inverter company.” Its SUNERGY (TM) inverters achieve high electrical conversion efficiency while they reduce operating voltages to levels that increase safety for homeowners and solar installers. “Ideal selected the SUNERGY(TM) inverter for multiple factors,” says Tim Veal, Ideal’s Green Energy Specialist, “including its unique outdoor rating, low voltage safety factors, and its ability to deliver higher yields at a lower cost per watt than micro inverters.”
Ideal has operated in Ontario for more than eighty years as a distributor of electrical supplies and auto parts and has recently extended its reach into the realm of renewable energy. The company, known as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, serves more than 1,000 contractors from twenty-six locations across Southwestern Ontario. “Sustainable could not ask for a better partner to… roll out of the SUNERGY(TM) inverter in Ontario,” said Michael Carten, Sustainable’s CEO. “Ideal Supply brings a deep understanding of the Ontario electrical products market along with a strong Ontario brand and experienced sales force.”
Ontario Solar Energy Industry Blossoms Thanks to FIT Programs
Ideal currently awaits its initial order of 125 kW worth of inverters from Sustainable, which it will market to Ontario’s rapidly-expanding solar energy industry. The industry received a big boost at the end of 2009 when the provincial government began to offer its feed-in tariff (FIT) and microFIT programs. The programs provide twenty-year contracts that guarantee lucrative rates to producers of solar, wind, and biomass energy who feed their projects into the power grid. As of early last December, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) had executed 1,300 FIT and microFIT contracts. The programs create green energy and jobs for graduates of photovoltaic training programs, and in a variety of support industries such as transportation and manufacturing.
The FIT and microFIT make Ontario an ideal place for solar companies to build and manufacture materials for green energy installations. With Ideal’s help, Sustainable will take advantage of this booming market while it provides cutting-edge technology to solar installers across the province.
