Posts Tagged ‘OPA’

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Government Investment at Stratford Festival Supports Solar Energy Industry

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

Gary Schellenberger, MP for Perth–Wellington, recently announced that the world-renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival will receive funding designed to help Ontario’s growing solar energy industry.  Specifically, the Government of Canada funded $246,750 to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival via the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund within the Department of Canadian Heritage.

This federal government funding will go towards paying for both the cost and labour involved with building an innovative solar energy wall at the famous Avon Theatre in Stratford –  another boon to Southern Ontario’s solar energy industry.  In addition, the funding will also pay for the festival theatre’s new heating purchase and installation.

“We know that the installation of energy-efficient equipment will help ensure the company’s continued success and further promote its environmental leadership,” stated James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.

Funding Increases Alternative Energy Jobs and Demand for Solar Courses

Besides the obvious direct benefits to the festival, this funding will also increase the number of alternative energy jobs in Ontario.  Consequently, demand for green professionals who have successfully completed solar training courses in the province’s growing alternative energy job field will likely increase well.  However, schools like Ontario Solar Academy are able to train and certify solar PV installers in as little as five days.

About the Stratford Shakespeare Festival

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival offers superior live play performances to both a national and international audience.  Established in 1953, this world renowned festival has grown to become one of North America’s largest classical repertory theatre companies, prompting Moore to comment that his government was “proud to support a quality organization like the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.”

In response to this investment, Antoni Cimolino, General Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival stated:

“We appreciate that the Government of Canada has shown interest in these less glamorous aspects of arts support, recognizing that they will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint. We strive to be a leader in the cultural sector and hope that our efforts to green our facilities will inspire other cultural organizations to do the same.”

All in all, the future is looking great for alternative energy jobs and the solar energy industry in Ontario.

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Ontario’s Solar Energy Certification Programs Show the US the Way

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

For years, Canadians have complained about US-based air-borne particulate pollution.  The special object of ire was Detroit, Michigan’s smokestack car industry and the exhaust “exported” to Windsor.  Now Canada, with Ontario’s innovative feed-in tariff program, is not only combating that trend but also leading the way into a new energy era.  Good fences no longer make good neighbours – one needs to share leading-edge solar economy technology as well.  “The times,” as Bob Dylan sang, “they are a changing.”

In the new year, energy leaders in Ontario, Canada shared information with their counterparts in Colorado some aggressive public policy concerning some of their innovative solar economic programs that have raised the sustainability bar, including feed-in tariffs, building and promoting electric car-charging stations, and new construction projects.  The ultimate objective is to create seamless energy grid infrastructure able to meet daily consumer needs and help generate alternative energy careers.

One challenge that Colorado has that Ontario does not is meeting resistance from the private owners of coal stations; in Ontario, they are publically owned.  Another challenge is cost – to collect one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy from rooftop solar panels costs about $0.35 compared to approximately $0.10 for electricity generated from fossil fuel.  To reach the stage of wide-spread acceptance, supporters of the solar economy must eliminate that cost differential.  Solar energy certification programs will accomplish that objective by creating a more knowledgeable public.  Alternative energy careers will blossom as the future economy flowers.

North American Cooperation Leads to Global Solar Economic Unity

With more Canadian provinces and US states on line collaborating, the entire energy ecosystem of production, distribution, and consumption will change for the better.  Will the political and economic synergy of these new energies lead to closer political unity?  We may imagine an organization that does not presently exist called Energy United that will fuel alternative energy political careers.  The possibilities are as infinite as the rich bounty of solar power itself.

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Joint Green Energy Venture to Create Career Options, Jobs for 2,300 in Ontario

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Toronto’s Celestica, Inc. (Celestica) and San Francisco-based Recurrent Energy have recently agreed to enter into a joint venture to produce components for solar installations in Ontario.  The partnership will support the region’s rapidly-growing green economy by creating up to 2,300 jobs and manufacturing domestically-produced materials for its career solar workers and students of renewable energy classes.

Celestica is a global provider of design and engineering expertise, electronics manufacturing, and supply chain management services with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia.  The company’s previous work in Ontario includes making components for the BlackBerry smartphone.  Recurrent Energy is a subsidiary of Japan’s Sharp Corporation that develops, builds, finances, and operates solar power systems in North America, Europe, and other emerging markets.

Celestica will manufacture Recurrent Energy’s solar panels at its facilities in Toronto.  Recurrent Energy plans to use the modules in nineteen photovoltaic projects for which it has signed contracts with the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to participate in its lucrative feed-in tariff program (FIT).

Photovoltaic Industry Number Two in N. America, on Course to Number One

The FIT pays producers of electricity from solar, wind, and biomass installations above-market rates to tie their projects into the provincial power grid, but it requires participating solar projects to include 60% made-in-Ontario materials and regional labour.  The program creates enormous opportunities for green energy production as well as new career options.  It also opens up new educational streams like photovoltaic system design and installation classes and other courses that train Ontario’s workers and students for today’s energy jobs.

Ontario saw a boom in its solar industry following its institution of the FIT.  This growth culminated in the province ranking second in North America for installed photovoltaic capacity in 2010, and a recent analysis revealed that the region may be on course to surpass California and take first place in the coming year.  In addition to creating green energy and jobs, Recurrent Energy and Celestica’s contributions to this thriving industry will include materials to help the region’s developers and solar class graduates meet the FIT’s domestic content requirements.  The joint venture joins a number of partnerships operating in the province that capitalize on the demand for solar power while they help Ontario make the switch to more environmentally-friendly forms of energy generation.

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New Data Show Global Solar Industry On Course, Venture Capital Up

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Texas-based Mercom Capital Group (Mercom) has released data that show that venture capital investment in the global solar and wind industries rose 18% between 2009 and 2010.  Mercom’s latest Solar Funding and M & A Report shows that despite a number of potential hurdles, the worldwide effort to increase renewable energy production is on course and continues to expand.

Global investors put more than US$1.66 billion into the solar market by the end of last year, with the US, France, Israel, and Canada representing the top four contributors.  While last year’s numbers improved over those of the previous year, they fell short of 2008 figures, which exceeded $3.87 billion.  In Ontario, a combination of venture capital investment and government incentives, in the form of a powerful feed-in tariff (FIT) program, have helped to create a progressive solar market that includes green energy, jobs, photovoltaic training courses, and new manufacturing facilities.

Sunnydale, California’s Calisolar drew the most investment to the Canadian solar market in 2010, totalling US$22.5 million, followed by Toronto-based Morgan Solar, Inc., who brought in US$3.5 million.  While solar venture capital grew over the last year, the overall number of deals has dropped steadily since 2008.  However, funding for large-scale photovoltaic projects rose over the last two quarters of 2010, which saw the industry add twenty-six new deals worth a combined US $4.1 billion.

More Solar Energy, Jobs for the Future, Despite Setbacks

While the trends for solar are mainly encouraging, they do not come without setbacks.  According to the Mercom report, 2010 figures peaked in the first half of the year and this, combined with the drastic fluctuations between the 2008 and 2009 numbers, reveal a level of instability.  “Analysts are predicting this to be a continuing trend,” the report explains, “as the capital-intensive nature of solar is not fitting well with traditional (venture capital) models and exits in the solar sector have been tough for (venture capitalists).”

With Ontario and a number of other regions and countries across the globe offering FIT programs and a worldwide push to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint, the photovoltaic industry will find ways to overcome its growing pains.  In Ontario, this will mean more new projects that will require photovoltaic training programs to turn out more trained solar energy workers to fill the jobs in the years to come.

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New Ottawa PV Projects on Course, Will Create Jobs for Trained Solar Workers

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Ottawa’s Dymon Power Corporation (Dymon Power) recently announced that it has selected Ontario Solar Provider, Inc. (OSP) to design, finance, and install eight photovoltaic (PV) projects in the National Capital Region that will have a combined generating capacity of 2.7 MW.  The projects will create jobs for graduates of Ontario’s solar training courses and help the region prepare to phase out its coal-fired power plants.

Ontario is a hotbed of green development, with solar, wind, and other green energy technologies bringing in jobs, training opportunities like PV installation courses, and clean, unpolluted air.  The renewable energy industry received a powerful boost in May of 2009 when the province signed its Green Energy and Green Economy Act (Green Energy Act) into law.  The Act gave the province and its Minister of Energy increased decision-making power over issues of energy supply and efficiency and prepared the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to institute its feed-in tariff (FIT) program later the same year.

Company Plans to Benefit from Green Energy Act Provisions

The FIT program pays high prices, guaranteed over twenty years, to producers of green energy who feed their projects into the power grid.  Dymon Power, a division of the Dymon Group of Companies (Dymon), plans to feed its eight new projects into the grid and participate in the incentive program.  Dymon is a real estate development group that develops and operates storage facilities.  The company also built and runs two high-end retirement homes in Ottawa.

In preparation for its eight new solar projects in the capital, Dymon Power considered more than thirty companies before it selected OSP for the jobs.  OSP is a PV development and installation company based in Toronto that sells its products and services across Europe as well as in North America.  According to Dymon’s CEO, Glen Luckman, “OSP stood out from the competition due its extensive knowledge of the rooftop solar PV market.”

OSP will begin constructing the new projects in April of this year.  The rooftop installations range in capacity from 100 kW to 500 kW and will collectively generate enough electricity to power 1,000 homes, bringing the province closer to achieving one of the FIT’s main goals – to shut down all Ontario coal-fired power plants by 2014.

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New Sault Plant Produces FIT-Ready Materials

Monday, December 20th, 2010

On December 17, Heliene, Inc. (Heliene), held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new solar panel manufacturing plant in Sault Saint Marie (the Sault) that will provide much-needed domestic content for projects that take part in Ontario’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program.  The company expects the facility to produce 20 MW worth of panels per year and create fifty-seven alternative energy jobs by the end of December.

Heliene began production at the new plant in mid-October, and by the day of the ribbon-cutting, company President, Martin Pochtaruk, said it would soon increase production to twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Ontario enjoys high demand for alternative energy parts produced in the region since the province’s FIT program will require participating projects to use up to 60% domestic materials and labour by 2011.  The program creates green energy, jobs, and manufacturing opportunities like the Heliene plant by paying high prices to producers of solar, wind, and biomass power who tie their projects into the grid.  The program has also helped to open up new educational opportunities such as Ontario Solar Academy’s photovoltaic (PV) design and installation classes.

Solar Facility to Create Alternative Energy Jobs, Parts for PV Class Graduates

Heliene is a Sault-based producer of solar panels that has a sibling company of the same name in Badalona, Spain.  By the end of the month, the new plant will have four crews, each working twelve-hour shifts to keep up with demand for its solar panels, all of which Heliene expects to sell soon to the rapidly-expanding Ontario market.  Heliene will produce its maximum-yield 300-watt panels on a mostly-automated assembly line made by Spain’s SAP Sistemas de Automatizacion de Procesos (SAP).  The high-efficiency panels are capable of generating PV power under sun and cloud and can connect to as many other panels as necessary for home, commercial, or full-scale use.  This will provide the versatility that graduates of the province’s PV classes will need in order to deal with Ontario’s widely variable climate.

“By supporting Heliene, Inc., a value-added manufacturing businesses in the green energy sector,” says Ontario MPP for the Sault region, David Orazietti, “we are creating high quality, good paying jobs and positioning our city to be at the forefront of the growing renewable energy industry.”

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Greater Sudbury to Take Part in Feed-in Tariff Program

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

SkyPower, Ltd. (SkyPower), has announced plans for a new solar park in the Greater Sudbury area that will tie into the provincial power grid as part of Ontario’s feed-in tariff program.  The company will locate the $35-$45 million park, which it has named the HighLight Solar Project (Highlight Project), south of the town of Capreol in the Valley East region.

Toronto’s SkyPower is a solar energy company that develops, manages, finances, and owns renewable power projects across the globe.  Members of the company’s experienced team dedicate their careers to developing green projects “in a responsible and meaningful manner.”  SkyPower’s other Ontario projects include Canada’s first full-scale solar park, First Light I, in Stone Mills, and two recently announced installations in Napanee and Thunder Bay.

“The site… has a good amount of sunlight, according to our consultants,” says SkyPower’s spokesman, Brett James.  “A good site is not impeded by winter conditions.”  The new Valley East installation will utilize as many as 200,000 solar panels.  The project’s construction will create eighty jobs for trades workers and graduates of the province’s PV training courses, and it will generate enough solar energy to power approximately 1,000 homes.  SkyPower expects to begin constructing the solar power project in August, 2011, and complete it within six to eight months.

Project Will Create Green Jobs for Graduates of Solar Power Courses

Ontario has a robust green energy industry that includes solar module manufacturing plants and a number of related career opportunities.  The province also benefits from training courses, such as Ontario Solar Academy’s five-day PV design and installation program, that prepare Ontario workers for new careers in the solar energy industry.

The centrepiece of Ontario’s green economy is its feed-in tariff program, which pays high prices to power producers who tie solar, wind, and biomass projects into the province’s electrical grid.  SkyPower has applied to the provincial government to participate in the program.  From there, it must also receive approval from the Ministries of the Environment, Tourism and Culture, and Natural Resources before it can commence building the HighLight Project.

The energy the project creates will divert about 10,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by replacing an equivalent amount of fossil fuels.  Once the solar modules have reached the end of their lives – about twenty-five years – the company will remove the structures and leave the land to nature.

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Ontario to Add Two New Alternative Energy Projects to Green Economy

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Canadian Solar Solutions, Inc. (Canadian Solar Solutions), has signed an agreement with Sky Power, Ltd. (Sky Power), to add 18.5 MW of solar capacity to Ontario’s green economy.  The partners will build two new solar farms in Napanee and Thunder Bay that will collectively produce enough electricity to power nearly 33,000 homes and create potential careers for graduates of the province’s photovoltaic (PV) training courses.

Kitchener-based Canadian Solar Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar, Inc. (Canadian Solar), headquartered in the same city.  The parent company operates globally, while Canadian Solar Solutions handles the domestic market.  The companies specialize in “turnkey solar solutions for residential, commercial, and solar farm markets in Canada.”  Toronto’s Sky Power owns alternative energy projects in Canada and across the globe.  The company develops, manages, and finances projects “from the initial discovery stages through to commercial operation.”  Sky Power has agreed to engineer and construct the two new projects and has arranged financing through Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

Canadian Solar Solutions and Sky Power expect to complete the two new installations by mid-2011.  When finished, the Napanee and Thunder Bay projects will produce 10 MW and 8.5 MW of solar energy, respectively, per hour.

Alternative Energy Creates Industry, Careers in Ontario

Ontario has a vibrant and growing green economy that is energized by a feed-in tariff (FIT) program that pays producers of alternative energy premium rates for electricity they generate from sources such as solar, wind, and biomass.  The program creates clean energy, careers, and inspires training opportunities such as Ontario Solar Academy’s ISPQ-accredited solar PV courses.  Participating projects must meet minimum targets for domestic content for both materials and labour.  This provision keeps FIT money in the province and helps to build a stable foundation for the industry so that it survives the eventual conclusion of the program.

Canadian Solar plans to open a solar module manufacturing facility in Guelph that will help the company and other solar PV businesses in Ontario stay on course and meet the FIT’s domestic content requirements.  The company expects to complete the plant, which it estimates will employ about 500 people, by the middle of next year.

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St. Eugene Joins Ontario Solar Industry after Months of Delay

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Enfinity Canada has finally broken ground on a 30 MW solar project that will provide about 200 green jobs for workers in St. Eugene in the Ontario township of East Hawkesbury. The announcement follows a delay that project developers experienced as a result of local opposition to the project.

Enfinity Canada is a subsidiary of Belgium’s Enfinity. The companies specialize in photovoltaic (PV) development, and the parent company has done work for solar industries in twenty-one countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Enfinity originally scheduled construction of the site to begin in March, 2010, but opponents of the project attempted to shut it down through legal means. Now clear of that hurdle, the company is ready to begin work on the project. Enfinity is currently preparing the future site of the installation by fencing off the property, performing preliminary landscaping, and planning access roads. The company will begin erecting the solar panels in the spring of 2011 and expects to complete the project by September of the same year. Enfinity has hired twenty people for the initial stages of the project, and will provide many more green jobs once they are ready to erect the 140,000 panels in the spring.

Province Home to Solar Jobs, Training, Workshops

Ontario is home to North America’s first feed-in tariff (FIT) program for renewable energy, which pays high prices for electricity generated using solar, wind, and biomass power. The program creates an industry that includes green energy and jobs, as well as educational opportunities such as seminars, workshops, and solar panel design and installation courses, to help workers and property owners become proactive on environmental issues and take advantage of the benefits of the FIT.

Enfinity offers workshops where potential solar panel installation builders and owners can learn about the FIT, as well as important information on the specifications of the ideal rooftop, how to select a qualified developer, and what to expect from a solar installation. Together, Enfinity and the Township of East Hawkesbury will work towards cleaner air and a more sustainable future for Ontarians.

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Recycling Company Goes Solar

Monday, December 13th, 2010

Waxman Industrial Services, Ltd. (Waxman), recently announced that it will host an 87,000 square foot photovoltaic (PV) installation on its Burlington, Ontario rooftop.  Installing solar panels on the building’s roof will create work for graduates of Ontario’s green energy training courses.  When complete, the installation will produce an estimated 500 kW of environmentally-friendly electricity per hour.

Waxman is Canada’s fastest-growing metals recycling company, with operations in Hamilton, Brantford, and Burlington.  Toronto’s Atlantic Wind and Solar, Inc. (Atlantic) will construct, own, and operate the new rooftop facility.  Atlantic is a commercial aggregator – a company that leases space for installations that generate energy to sell at a profit.  The agreement between Waxman and Atlantic was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield, Ltd., a global real estate firm with offices across Canada and on most continents.

Atlantic operates a number of projects that participate in Ontario’s lucrative feed-in tariff (FIT) program.  The FIT encourages investment into green energy by paying owners of solar, wind, and biomass power projects above-market rates for electricity they feed into the grid.  The microFIT offers even higher prices, depending on the type of installation, for projects of 10 kW and less.  Last summer, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) barred commercial aggregators from participating in the microFIT.

FIT, MicroFIT Create Alternative Energy, Jobs

A number of businesses, including IKEA, have chosen to produce alternative energy on their Ontario properties and rooftops, largely motivated by the FIT’s high prices.  This increased interest in green energy has led to a dramatic increase in the number of solar, wind, and biomass projects that operate in the province and has helped to create thousands of jobs.  According to one estimate, Ontario will install about 2400 MW of clean electricity-generating capacity between 2010 and 2012, and a recent study conducted by ClearSky Advisors suggests that the region may add as many as 70,000 “person-years” of employment in the green energy sector by 2015.  The FIT, microFIT, and the popularity of solar panels  and other types of installations have also inspired industry players to offer courses for workers interested in making the switch to careers in renewable energy, such as Ontario Solar Academy’s five-day solar panel installation course.

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