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Loblaws stores throughout Ontario will soon be sporting rooftop solar panels as Canada's largest supermarket chain takes advantage of the province's new renewable-energy program. According to the Globe & Mail, Energy Minister Brad Duguid spoke at a Loblaws Supermarket in Toronto early last week to announce the Loblaws contract under the feed-in-tariff program (FIT), "which pays premium prices for renewable power".

"The program, billed as the first of its kind in North America and a cornerstone of the McGuinty government's Green Energy Act, has generated enormous interest from potential participants since it was launched last September."

"Officials from Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and the Ontario Power Authority, the province's planning arm responsible for the FIT program, declined to comment yesterday. But sources in the energy sector said Loblaw plans to use solar panels on some of its stores as a renewable source of electricity."

"The number of companies that applied to the FIT program far exceeded the expectations of officials at the Ontario Power Authority, the sources said. The government is luring green-energy investors with the promise of generous long-term contracts that include a guaranteed revenue stream. Contract holders receive a fixed price over 20 years for the electricity they produce - 13.5 cents a kilowatt hour for on-shore wind farms and up to 80.2 cents for solar power."

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original source the Globe & Mail