Local company scores $55M solar power contract for Summerside

A company in eastern P.E.I. has won the contract to build a 21-megawatt solar power plant for Summerside, P.E.I.

The project will cover about 30 hectares in solar panels and include battery storage so the facility can store electricity for when it's needed when the sun isn't shining. The $55-million to build it went to Aspin Kemp, of Montague.

It's a big project for the company, and particularly important during the pandemic — when bidding on work in other parts of the world comes with added complications. Company CEO Jason Aspin said the experience of building such a large solar farm will help the company move into other markets.

Aspin said as more of these projects are built, it should lead to more local expertise.

"P.E.I. has set goals to become net zero earlier than other parts of the country, and I think that will naturally translate into basically developing solutions to achieve those goals," he said.

"If those solutions can be realized by local companies, then we can take that expertise and take it to the rest of the country, and the rest of North America and other parts of the world, even as they set the same sorts of goals in the future."

Work to prepare the ground for the solar farm will begin soon, and it is due to be complete in the fall of 2022.