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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Interview with Solar Share GM Chris Caners

Chris Caners, general manager of Toronto’s Solar Share renewable energy co-operative, is talking to me about solar power’s many virtues. He smiles and his whole face comes to life. He clearly loves this technology.

“Solar is an amazing electricity generation mechanism because you can literally do it anywhere,” he says. “So, you avoid things like transmission losses because … you’re generating the power where you’re consuming it.”

He also speaks with exuberance about solar’s affordability.

When he joined Solar Share in 2016, solar was 75 cents per watt. Now it’s closer to 30 cents – less than half. “So, it’s pretty incredible,” he says.

Caners explains that research and development and mass production in China are key factors in solar’s cost reduction. He’s looked at the price of various energy sources and has no hesitation saying that “industrial solar and wind — the big, big solar and wind — are the cheapest by quite a ways.”

Read the rest at the David Suzuki Foundation

 

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