The second quarter of 2010 was a time of great transition for me personally, as I left my full time job at RiskMetrics Group (now MSCI Inc.) to work on developing community-owned biogas plants across Ontario on a full time basis.
This was followed by the beginning of two new and exciting projects: A General Resource Assessment for the Peterborough Green Energy Co-operative, and evaluation services to the Toronto Zoo for a biogas plant in development there. I’m expecting both projects to be complete by the end of Q3, but that they will be the beginning of something bigger. Both illustrate a desire by the market for community-owned biogas.
Other highlights included:
- The UpStart competition at MaRS, a business plan competition among the students of Entrepreneurship 101.
- Ontario officially launched the Community Energy Partnership Program – a $200,000 grant available to community groups to fund the soft costs related to developing a power project. Things like building a business case, contracting, technical studies, legal costs, and project management. It’s exactly the assistance many projects need to get from the idea phase to reality.
