logo
Article

Ontario goes on green job spree

The Star|John Spears|December 1, 2010
CanadaEnergy PolicyJobs and Economy

As many as 1,700 green energy jobs in southwestern Ontario are to be announced this week, according to Queen's Park sources. The announcements are part of an energy policy blitz as the provincial Liberal government tries to take the offensive on the energy file.


As many as 1,700 green energy jobs in southwestern Ontario are to be announced this week, according to Queen's Park sources.

The announcements are part of an energy policy blitz as the provincial Liberal government tries to take the offensive on the energy file.

The new jobs are coming as a result of three projects:

• On Thursday, the government will announce that a new Siemens Canada facility to manufacture wind turbine blades will be built in Tillsonburg.

The new plant will employ 300 full-time workers, and will result in another 600 construction and indirect jobs.

• On Wednesday, the province will announce that the first manufacturing facility under Samsung Canada's controversial deal with the province will be located in …

... more [truncated due to possible copyright]

As many as 1,700 green energy jobs in southwestern Ontario are to be announced this week, according to Queen's Park sources.

The announcements are part of an energy policy blitz as the provincial Liberal government tries to take the offensive on the energy file.

The new jobs are coming as a result of three projects:

• On Thursday, the government will announce that a new Siemens Canada facility to manufacture wind turbine blades will be built in Tillsonburg.

The new plant will employ 300 full-time workers, and will result in another 600 construction and indirect jobs.

• On Wednesday, the province will announce that the first manufacturing facility under Samsung Canada's controversial deal with the province will be located in Windsor.

The plant, to make steel towers for wind turbines, will employ 300 once it gets going, and will create another 400 construction and spin-off jobs.

• On Tuesday, Energy Minister Brad Duguid was on hand to welcome delivery of the first made-in-Ontario steel towers for wind turbines, delivered to the Pointe-aux-Roches wind project in Essex County. The 27 towers were made by Algoma Steel; the project will create 126 construction and spin-off jobs.

The Liberals have promised that their green energy plan will ultimately create 50,000 jobs in Ontario. They say renewable sources are needed to replace coal-burning plants.

But the Conservatives have been complaining that the green energy plan is driving up electricity bills for families and businesses.

Last week, the Liberals tried to blunt that criticism by giving consumers and small businesses a 10 per cent rebate on their hydro bills.

Now, they're rolling out the jobs.

At the Pointe-aux-Roches site, Duguid hammered away at what will be a theme in the lead-up to next October's provincial election.

"This project is a great example of how our energy plan is strengthening the economy and making Ontario's energy supply cleaner and more sustainable," he said.

While this week's announcements will be good news for the communities that are getting the jobs, they will disappoint others.

Siemens had previously announced that they would set up a plant for turbine blades somewhere between Hamilton and Windsor, but had not named a location.

Hamilton had high hopes of landing the plant. Siemens has said it will close a gas turbine plant in Hamilton next summer, terminating 550 jobs. Instead, the turbine blades will be made in Tillsonburg.

The Samsung plant in Windsor is part of a $7-billion commitment that the company made with the province. Samsung will get $437 million in subsidies over the life of the 25-year agreement, over and above the high feed-in tariff rates that it will get for power from its wind and solar projects.

Samsung must build and open a number of specified plans to make solar and wind powered generating equipment in order to qualify for the subsidies.

Construction of the Windsor plant will occur during the next year, with the plant expected to open in early 2012.

That's far ahead of the deadline set under the original agreement, which said the plant must open by the end of 2015.


Source:http://www.thestar.com/articl…

Share this post
Follow Us
RSS:XMLAtomJSON
Donate
Donate
Stay Updated

We respect your privacy and never share your contact information. | LEGAL NOTICES

Contact Us

WindAction.org
Lisa Linowes, Executive Director
phone: 603.838.6588

Email contact

General Copyright Statement: Most of the sourced material posted to WindAction.org is posted according to the Fair Use doctrine of copyright law for non-commercial news reporting, education and discussion purposes. Some articles we only show excerpts, and provide links to the original published material. Any article will be removed by request from copyright owner, please send takedown requests to: info@windaction.org

© 2024 INDUSTRIAL WIND ACTION GROUP CORP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WEBSITE GENEROUSLY DONATED BY PARKERHILL TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION