NEWS RELEASE
Major Co-operatively-owned Solar Project Opens the Door to Local Individual Investors
GREATER SUDBURY, Ontario, August 26, 2013 – The SUN Co-operative is official and is ready to accept its first investments from Sudburians. Now in negotiations with Vale to build the project on reclaimed slag land off Big Nickel Mine Road, the Co-op is getting ready to apply for power-purchase contracts from the provincial government for this and other potential rooftop projects in the City. The public, media and current co-op members are invited to come out to an information session to be held August 29 from 5 – 7 pm at 176 Larch St. on the 3rd floor, in the new reThink Green Environmental Resource Centre.
The SUN Co-op is locally-run and controlled by individual members, and is a brainchild of reThink Green, a non-profit-organization responsible for a number of local environmental projects such as the annual Earth Day Festival. Surpluses from the solar projects would be used to create a Community Environmental Fund for Sudbury environmental organizations.
“Our goal as a co-op is to involve the community as much as possible, to both join the co-op to have their say, and to invest and benefit from the solar projects we build. A global trend we are seeing is for people to take some of their investments out of Wall Street and Bay Street, and invest in their own community instead. They can make a solid return while building up the quality of life for themselves and their kids,” says Arik Theijsmeijer, President of the SUN Co-operative.
The project on Vale land has nearly unlimited potential to grow with the large space available on reclaimed slag land that has limited other uses. Vale’s Canadian head office has signed a letter of interest in negotiating a lease and supporting the project. The project site is out of view of nearby residences, but still close to the electrical grid. A power purchase contract from the provincial government, which prioritizes community projects like this, would provide individual and corporate investors stable financial returns for the next twenty years.
To find out more about how to join or invest go to www.suncooperative.com
The site for the Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
The Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op was formed to create independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.
The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.