SunEdison and SkyPower partner for Canadian solar farms

SunEdison has teamed up with Canadian renewable energy developer SkyPower Corp. to develop, build and operate three to five 10MW of solar photovoltaic farms across the Canadian province of Ontario.

SunEdison's modus operandi is to finance, install, own and operate photovoltaic power plants at customer premises. Its approach has been adopted by commercial, government and utility customers such as Staples, the State of California and Xcel Energy.

The electricity produced from the venture will be used in the local communities where the farms are located, said Michelle Chislett, SkyPower's Ontario director of solar projects.

The venture will create 250 jobs while the farms are being built. Ten to 20 workers will be needed to maintain the farms.

SkyPower is Canada's leading independent renewable energy developer with interests in over 27 wind and hydro projects at various stages of development across 8 provinces, representing more than 7,000 MW of potential capacity. SkyPower's strategy involves bringing a portfolio of renewable energy projects from exploration phase through to construction and commercial operation and is focused on being the largest owner and operator of renewable energy parks across Canada.

SkyPower also has over 1,000 MW of wind energy under development in India.

Once the Ontario government's standard offer contracts are implemented, the joint venture will be announcing the location of its first facility.

In March of this year, Ontario announced a program to encourage the use of renewable energy.