The Independent Electricity System Operator is offering greenhouse owners in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent an incentive to switch to LED technology.
The incentive will cover about 30 per cent of overall costs to retrofit the lighting or use LED technologies in new builds. That's about three times the previous incentive that was offered.
"The technology is really improving from using high-pressure sodium grow lights to LED lights and when we see growers switch to LED lights we're seeing that you can save up to 55 per cent of your energy consumption or your energy costs," said Jordan Penic with the IESO.
The IESO is focusing on this region as a pilot project because of the growth they are seeing.
"We want to make sure that we're focusing our incentives on the region that we see significant amounts of growth because that's good for the electricity system to make sure that we are managing the growth cost-effectively," said Penic.
The incentive program will be available to growers in the region until the end of 2020. Interested parties can find out more about the program and how to apply by clicking here. A rebate will be given for the work once the amount of savings is demonstrated to the IESO.
