Last year StorageMart entered into a partnership with JCM Capital of Toronto to install solar panels onto the rooftops of its properties in the Greater Toronto Area, making StorageMart a leader in the self storage industry in finding ways to purpose their properties beyond the rental of self storage space.
In September of this year this solar partnership came to fruition when the first installation, located at 221 Todd Baylis Blvd., Toronto, was connected to the grid and began generating power. Since then, production has stepped up with a total of nine more properties either currently on line or expected to be within the next two months.
Three New Installations
Three installations are complete and connected to the power grid. These installations are located at 1776 O’Connor Drive in Toronto, 1020 Wonderland Road South in London and 947 Warden Avenue in Scarborough. Those stores whose installations should be completed and connected to the grid within the next two months are located at 875 Don Mills Road and 120 Wicksteed Avenue in Toronto, 665 Adelaide Street North in London, 605 Alden Road in Markham, 680 Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke and 110 Bell Farm Road in Barrie.
Once all installations are completed and operable, they will have a combined capacity of 2,575 kW (kilowatts). This rating should produce approximately 3.5 GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity per year. That level of production would be enough to fully power 350 homes for a full year.
“We’re very pleased to see the result of a lot of hard work and planning coming to reality,” StorageMart CEO Mike Burnam said. “It’s actually pretty amazing to see how far this project has come in such a short period of time and realize how much further it can still go. It’s our hope these installations are just the first steps in a larger mission of not only maximizing the profitability of our storage facilities but also making StorageMart more heavily invested in the communities it calls home by joining together with JCM Capital to help reduce the footprint of the communities where it operates by providing a regular source of renewable, clean energy.”
Future Solar Panel Plans
Plans are in place for solar panel installations atop another 10-15 StorageMart locations in the Greater Toronto Area by the end of 2014.