An agreement that would have seen 26 level two electric vehicle chargers come to Huron County has run into some problems.
Huron County Climate Change and Energy Specialist, Lily Morrow, explains, the county partnered with Charger Crew, a company that installs electric vehicle chargers and Charger Crew had an investor, a company called Spark Park.
"So that investor was providing fifty per cent funding towards 26 level two electrical vehicle charging port in Huron County. The other fifty per cent was coming from the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure program, which is a funding program by Natural Resources Canada."
Morrow says the problems arose when a conflict of interest was declared between Spark Park and Natural Resources Canada that disqualified Spark Park as an investor and prevented them from providing fifty per cent of the cost to the project. So Morrow says, at this point, in order for the project to proceed, it looks like the county and local municipalities, would have to fund that fifty per cent of the cost.
Morrow adds, there has been some discussion about the possibility of taking money from reserves.
"There has been talk about the potential for money coming from reserves, but we would also be looking to the local municipalities, so that would be Goderich, Huron East and possibly North Huron, to see if as a group we could collaborate together to see this move forward."
Morrow says the project is timely and becomes more timely as more people buy electric vehicles and it does provide a valuable service to the community. County council approved the report for information and asked staff to come back with a report on possibilities for financing the project.
