Ontario, Canada is building one of the largest solar power plants in the world. More than a million photovoltaic solar panels will be constructed near Sarnia, Ontario, about 70 miles northeast of Detroit, MI. The 40 megawatt (MW) project – with panels erected as high as 23 feet off the ground – will power around 6,000 homes.

OptiSolar Farms of Canada, a subsidiary of California-based Opticsolar, Inc. was awarded the 20-year contract. The Ontario Power Authority will purchase the solar energy for 42 cent per kilowatt hour, a premium price that contributed to OptiSolar choosing Ontario for the massive project over its home base of California.

The company wouldn’t talk about the cost of the project for proprietary reasons, but they claim to have developed a way of mass-producing solar cells to dramatically lower the cost of the technology. Solar still isn’t cheap: some estimates put the cost of the plant at around $300 million. But you’ve got to start somewhere, and Ontario’s provincial government wants to make solar – typically a low-maintenance technology - a common energy source. From the Toronto Star:

“Deborah Doncaster, executive director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, said the premium may seem high but is justified given the environmental benefits. She said it's often forgotten that solar-generated electricity tends to offset natural gas during peak periods when air conditioners are blasting and electricity rates are at their highest.”

This is a big solar step for Canada. The Sarnia project is 400 times larger than the country’s next biggest solar system. But even this project won’t be the world’s largest for long: Germany is planning a similar sized plant, and Australia announced funding for a proposed 154 MW solar plant to be online by 2013.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Toronto Star, via Slashdot