Toronto's Exhibition Place to Install Largest Solar System in Canada

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - The City of Toronto is poised to install the largest solar power system in Canada on the roof of the Horse Palace at Exhibition Place.

Scheduled for completion in the spring, the 100 killowatt system is expected to reduce the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 94.7 metric tons per year.
Exhibition Place, located just west of downtown Toronto along the shores of Lake Ontario, holds large-scale world-class events, including the Canadian National Exhibition, the Molson INDY, the Caribana Parade, the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, and World Youth Dayon on its 192 acres of parkland. Each year, 5.2 million people visit the site.

The city has sent a letter of intent to buy the million dollar system from Carmanah Technologies Corporation of Victoria, British Columbia, a publicly traded company.

“We’re extremely pleased to be selected as the technology partner for this very important solar power project,” said Carmanah CEO Art Aylesworth. “Carmanah will provide Exhibition Place with a complete turn-key package as a model of sustainable energy for the City of Toronto."

Richard Morris, manager of the energy efficiency office at Exhibition Place, told the "Toronto Star" that if all goes well, Exhibition Place will expand the solar PV system to one megawatt or more in 2007. "What we'll end up doing is just covering that entire roof to the extent we can," he said.

Carmanah’s solar power system will be tied to the electricity grid. It will use high-efficiency solar modules and a unique penetrationless tracking system. An educational lobby display will show the public how much power is being produced, give environmental conditions, and offer historical system performance data.