Our neighbors to the great white north have been putting down their hockey sticks and maple syrup to answer the international call to reducing environmental impact. Canada has a long standing tradition of being considerate to nature, and is adopting even more solar incentives to encourage green energy solutions. It’s no surprise that when the town of Markham, Ontario, wanted to build a new solar grid-tie system, they chose Carmanah Technologies. After all, Carmanah is one of the leading domestic solar energy contractors in Canada, eh.

In order to meet growing demand for solar energy solutions, Markham announced Friday that Carmanah has been awarded $1.5 million to supply, install, and commission a new grid-tie system which will be pumping out 250 kilowatts (kW) upon its completion. By using solar panels to tie into the existing power grid, the town hopes to reduce the demand for energy from other non-renewable sources, and stands to generate revenue by collecting on clean energy tax incentives.

Under the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT), Markham will stand to earn $0.713 from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) for every kilowatt hour of solar energy supplied to the grid. Being funded by Markham’s own capital budget money and infrastructure stimulus provided by the Canadian government, Carmanah plans to have the tie-in panels up and running by the end of the year.

In Friday’s edition of Space Daily, Markham’s manager of climate change and energy and bid evaluation team member Graham Seaman said, “Carmanah earned their selection by scoring more points than its competitors making it the highest ranked proponent. Based on their past experience in similar projects and by having a more qualified design and project management team than the other bidders, the choice was clear.” And why not when considering that Carmanah has, “more than 50 completed grid-tied solar projects across Canada,” said CEO Ted Lattimore.

Using their newly awarded contract in Markham, Carmanah hopes that this project will only further reaffirm their credibility in the Canadian solar industry.

“The new OPA FIT program presents a great opportunity for renewable energy companies. Carmanah’s long-standing history of successful solar installations across Canada and full-service design-build capabilities position us well to support FIT projects of any scale,” said Lattimore.