The Ontario provincial government has signed an agreement that will bring more green energy and new jobs to Ontario. In fact, the $7 Billion dollar investment is expected to create 16,000 new green jobs in the province.
A consortium led by Samsung C&T Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) will invest $7 billion to generate 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power. These projects will triple Ontario’s output from renewable wind and solar sources and provide clean electricity to more than 580,000 households.
The investment will also lead to more than 16,000 new green energy jobs to build, install and operate the renewable generation projects.
The Korean consortium will also work with major partners to attract four manufacturing plants. This will lead to the creation of 1,440 green manufacturing and related jobs building wind and solar technology for use in Ontario and export across North America.
The consortium fully intends to use Ontario-made steel in its renewable energy projects, such as constructing its wind turbine towers.
This is the single-largest investment in renewable energy in provincial history. The consortium chose Ontario because our Green Energy Act guarantees stable rates for renewable energy.
Renewable energy provided by the Consortium would qualify for Feed-In Tariff prices available to all eligible projects.
Stimulating ManufacturingIn addition to the standard rates for electricity generation, the Consortium will be eligible for an economic development adder (EDA). This adder is contingent upon the Consortium manufacturing partners operating four manufacturing plants according to the following schedule:
These manufacturing facilities will produce wind turbine towers, wind blades, solar inverters and solar assembly in Ontario, creating more than 1,440 manufacturing and related jobs in the renewable energy industry. The local availability of these manufactured components will also help other renewable energy developers meet the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) domestic content requirements. An additional 700 manufacturing jobs are also anticipated to supply components not manufactured by the Consortium. In addition, working with their manufacturing partners, the Consortium fully intends to use Ontario-made steel in their renewable energy projects, such as the steel needed for wind turbine towers. Ratepayer Impact The total cost of the EDA, assuming the manufacturing facilities are built according to the schedule set out in the agreement, will be approximately $437 million (net present value) over the lifetime of the contracts. The EDA is expected to add on average $1.60 annually to a residential bill over the lifetime of the generation contracts. This equates to an increase of about 0.1 per cent on a typical residential electricity bill. |
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