Canada Preparing for $350 Billion Infrastructure Boom - Dec. 04, 2013

Canada Preparing for $350 Billion Infrastructure Boom - Dec. 04, 2013

Representatives of the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance are attending Pollutec Horizons 2013 in Paris to invite clean technology investments from around the world and share the news of an $80 million order Swiss-based ABB Ltd. and Ontario consortium partner Bondfield Construction won from Canadian Solar Solutions to supply a 100-megawatt turnkey photovoltaic solar project for the Grand Renewable Energy Park in Ontario. This project is part of a $5 billion investment by Samsung Renewable Energy Inc. and partners to create a green energy cluster of wind and solar power sources with enough capacity to generate 1,369 MW of renewable energy, starting with a 100 MW photovoltaic power plant and a 150 MW wind farm. Canadian Solar Solutions is the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the plant.

"We are delighted to work with Canadian Solar Solutions on the country's largest solar PV plant and to support Samsung's visionary renewable energy initiative. Our range of solar product and system offerings, combined with an extensive track record in efficiently executing optimized, utility-scale PV plants around the world, will enable us to deliver a best-in-class solution to our customer,"said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer recently.

"Canada and Ontario, its most populous province, is enjoying an infrastructure supercycle," said Robert Nolan, investment attraction manager for the Regional Municipality of Durham. "The Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters estimates that private energy and other public infrastructure projects over the next five years will be valued at a minimum of $350 billion. To build out these ambitious projects, Ontario needs help from clean technology product and services firms from around the world," he added.

Nolan said the Province of Ontario's Green Energy Act of 2009 helped to ignite fast growth in the production of clean and renewable energy. Since 2009, the act has spawned more than 20,000 jobs and is on track to create a total of 50,000; it also has sparked an estimated $27 billion in private-sector investment.

Other recent clean technology investments action in Ontario include these projects:

In Durham Region, construction is 60 percent completed on a $280 million energy-from-waste plant that will have the capacity to generate 17.5 megawatts of electricit. The Durham York Energy Centre is set to handle about 35 truckloads of post-recycled waste daily from the Regions of Durham and York. It is being built and operated by Coventa Energy, which is headquartered in Morristown, N.J.
In Windsor-Essex, CS Wind Canada, a division of the Korean-based CS Wind, expects to have more than 500 workers employed at its Canadian operations this year to build up to 500 of the company's wind turbine towers annually for the North American market. A key customer is the Grand Renewable Wind project in Haldimand County, Ontario. Samsung Renewable Energy and Pattern Energy Group LP broke ground on the project in November 2013.
In Ottawa, Ensyn Corp., an Ontario biofuel company whose technology turns wood waste to fuel, has landed a $20 million investment by Fibria Celulose, a Brazilian company that is the world's biggest producer of hardwood pulp.
In Halton Region, Anaeriga Inc., a Canadian company that is a leader in the generation of renewable energy from organic waste, recently opened a larger global headquarters and announced the closing of a $47.5 million growth equity commitment to accelerate its international growth.

Source: http://eponline.com

Dec.04, 2013