The city has installed solar panels on eight of its buildings as part of a new initiative with Energy Ottawa.
Mayor Jim Watson announced the partnership with the Hydro Ottawa subsidiary on Wednesday at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre, where solar panels have already been installed on the roof.
"Installing panels on municipal buildings just makes sense. The roofs are not being used for any other purpose, the space is there and we have the expertise at Hydro Ottawa," says Watson.
As part of the project, Energy Ottawa has installed solar panels on the roofs of the Ray Friel Complex, Kanata Recreation Complex, Walter Baker Sports Centre, François Dupuis Recreation Centre, at an operations garage on Conroy Road, an articulated bus garage on Industrial Avenue and an operations garage on Iber Road.
The utility will then sell the electricity back to the provincial grid. Hydro Ottawa says the solar panels will produce enough electricity to to remove 300 homes from the power grid annually.