Brightfields: The Convergence of Green?

Contaminated Site, Toronto

Everyone knows the electronic convergence of the computer, internet and television is happening right before our eyes. But there is a lesser-known environmental convergence developing in North America, called 'Brightfields'. 

Brightfields are environmentally contaminated properties that are used for clean energy production, usually solar or wind. Solar or wind production can be an ideal long-term use for sites that are highly contaminated and may require many years to clean-up or remediate. 

Recent and rapid advancements in clean energy technologies are what make this convergence possible

City Solar Project, Chicago

The Brightfield sector is more established in the United States than Canada, with many large projects in full production, including Chicago’s Solar City 10-megawatt solar installation located on a 41-acre brownfield. However Canada’s Brightfield sector does already have some significant players and supporting funding channels. 

Most Canadian banks will finance costs related to establishing qualified Clean Energy projects, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund will consider additional financing related to characterizing and remediating the property. 

Several companies like ArcStar Energy based in Toronto will finance, design, build and manage large-scale green energy projects for both Greenfield and Brownfield sites. With a multinational coverage ArcStar looks for sites that suitable for utility and large scale industrial power delivery, and for sites that are eligible for green energy incentives, such as Ontario’s Feed In Tariff or ‘FIT’ program. 

The percentage of Brownfields sites that are suitable for renewable energy projects is quite small. However the large number of Brownfields in North America, over 1,000,000 by some estimates, means that there are likely 10,000 - 20,000 sites that are ideal candidates for a Brightfield devlopment. 

Links:

Ontario Power Authority
Federation of Canadian Municipalities
ArcStar Energy 

New Website Announcement

Fisher Environmental is excited to announce the launch of their newly designed Website at: www.fisherenvironmental.com 

Fisher Environmental - home page

The site welcomes visitors with bold colours and a clean easy-to-read layout. Full of topical content and videos, our aim is to share our knowledge and expertise on environmental due diligence and how environmental issues impact real estate. 

The new site is divided into relevant sections including:

1. Environmental Site Assessments - the industry's most recognized due diligence report.
2. Indoor Air Quality - a growing human health concern.
3. Site Remediation - dealing with environmentally contaminated properties.
4. News Releases - topical articles from a variety of national publications.
5. Social Media - links to Associations and Fisher's other sites: Fisher Labs and Fisher Drilling.

The Website will be updated on a regular basis with new content.

Ontario courts rule against victims of off-site contamination (again)

Property development is a risky business. However those risks increase considerably when redeveloping a "Brownfield" site. Beyond dealing with on-site remediation costs, if pollutants have migrated to a neighbouring property, there is the potential for costly regulatory clean-up orders and civil lawsuits. 

Not surprisingly off-site liability concerns are often a significant stumbling block to Brownfield redeveloped. After all what developer would purchase a property with known clean-up costs on-site, but unknown off-site liabilities?

However two recent court rulings in Ontario cases involving off-site contamination, resulted in decisions going against the innocent property owners, whose sites were contaminated by the activities occurring on nearby sites. While it is unlikely that these cases will result in more Brownfields being redeveloped in the province they have caught the attention of many in the industry.

1. In October 2011 the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned an earlier decision by the Ontario Superior Court in Smith vs Inco Limited, which had awarded $36,000,000 in damages to 7000 property owners in Port Colborne, Ontario, due to soil contamination caused by nickel particles emitted from Inco’s refinery. (see my blog post from October 18, 2011)

Kawartha Lakes, Ontario

2. In June 2012 the Ontario Divisional Court upheld a Ministry of Environment (MOE) order requiring the City of Kawartha Lakes to clean-up city owned property contaminated by a residential homeowner's furnace oil spill. The MOE's order deemed that protecting the environment took precedent over the innocent victim's (the City's) rights. (see Dianne Saxe's blog for an excellent analysis)