EMC News – Recently, city council approved an agreement with Energy Ottawa Limited, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa, to install rooftop solar energy arrays on up to 20 of the city’s largest rooftops over the next three years.

The energy produced through the project will be fed back into the provincial power grid through Hydro Ottawa’s distribution system. When fully implemented, it is expected that the amount of solar electrical energy produced will be enough to power more than 300 homes.

The rooftop solar arrays will help to reduce greenhouse gases and provide a new revenue stream for the city, estimated to be up to $5 million over 20 years, from rooftop leases as well as potentially enhanced dividends from Hydro Ottawa over the 20-year term of the project.

The decision reinforces the city’s strategic objectives for environmental sustainability by increasing the supply of local renewable energy and solar energy generation capacity, and is another important step as the city positions itself as a green energy leader.

As part of a pilot project last year, one set of solar panels exists on the rooftop of City Hall at 110 Laurier Ave. and another on top of the Transit Services Integrated Control Centre at 875 Belfast Rd.

Once formed, the alliance intends to develop patents and figure out global rights for applications of graphite, which is commonly used in steelmaking, solar panel manufacturing and lithium-ion batteries.

Focus stocks rose to $1.19 each on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up four cents.

“For the layperson, while diamonds are a coveted jewellery allotrope of carbon, graphene is very much the game-changing allotrope of carbon achieving recent accolades such as the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics,” stated Gordon Chiu, who was appointed to be the venture’s managing director and chief scientist.

“As a combination, it is potentially more applicable than copper because when graphene is mixed into plastics, the resultant material turns into a conductor of electricity while being more heat resistant and mechanically robust.”

The venture will be based in New York City. Beyond stating that detail, Focus did not disclose any financial details or when the agreement is expected to close.

According to Focus, the junior mining firm has one of the world’s highest concentrations of natural graphite at its property in Lac Knife, Que.