Northern Solar Bonds hoped to fund Green Timiskaming projects

 A group in Temiskaming is hoping to appeal to the greener side of investors.

A non-profit cooperative called Green Timiskaming is about to start selling Northern Solar Bonds. Cash from the investments will allow the group to install 10 community solar projects.

Green Timiskaming spokesperson Ambrose Raftis said any money generated will go back into other community projects, once bond holders are paid back.

"There's quite a bit of development occurring with the community co-ops and we see it happening in other places in the province," he said.

"So we hope to be able to share this model with other communities."

He said this community co-operative model is working well overseas.

"Most of northern Europe, a lot of these communities own their own energy resources. And this makes their economies more sustainable. They are not so susceptible to the dips that we have in northern Ontario with our resource economy going up and down."

Green Timiskaming has received green energy contracts from the Ontario Feed In Tariff (FIT) program for 10 solar sites.

A group called the SUN Cooperative is working towards a similar project in Sudbury. It hopes to secure a green energy contract this month so it can build a solar farm on Vale property.