Schletter Canada, Solar Power Network (SPN) and PowerStream have announced the completion of a 342kW solar installation that will power Schletter's head office in Windsor, Ontario.

Schletter manufactures a wide range of components and systems that facilitates the fastening of almost any module configuration to almost any roof. This flexibility made installing the 1,222 high efficiency panels on their metal, sloping roof (south/north pitches) doable.

The partnership between Schletter, building owner Lessor Limited and SPN enables the offset of 217% of the building's electricity consumption, with the excess 117,000kWh going to power neighbouring buildings.

"I have been pursuing solar power for years and know it is the future for more of our Windsor-Essex properties," explained Christine Davison, President of Lessor Limited and Schletter office building owner. "I was thrilled to see this project finally come together however, having the right local partners with a similar vision really helped."

This location will advance Ontario towards a distributed generation future, building energy independence - where the high consumers of electricity (particularly in the manufacturing sector) are targeted with high generation solar.

"Schletter is one of our key suppliers on rooftops in Ontario and Japan. Their highly configurable racking systems have allowed us to optimize power density and production, customized to the wide range of conditions we have encountered" - says Peter Goodman, President and CEO, SPN. "Powering their head office with renewable energy, enabled by the products they sell globally, is a great demonstration of their products as well as their commitment to distributed generation.

"Working with SPN has been a pleasure. It is very important to Schletter to produce as much solar power at our production facilities as possible - to be producing more energy than we consume far exceeds our expectations." Sonja Gehrlicher, General Manager, Schletter.

SPN has designed and built the site in partnership with PowerStream, who will own and be responsible for maintaining the system. The completed system is grid connected with a contract under the Ontario's Feed-In Tariff system and all the electricity generated will be sold under this program.