TORONTO STAR ARTICLEThis can only be good news for companies such as Day4. A hefty start in Ontario will encourage the rest of the country to get on with it as well. And if Obama is willing and able, there will be a big boom coming in the next year in all of North America. Day4 is also well established in Mexico.
Energy Reporter
The snow might have been falling and the economic outlook grey, but it was hard to escape the sun yesterday at Canada's premier solar technologies event.
A record 625 people gathered at the Canadian Solar Industries Association annual conference in Toronto to get a glimpse of the latest in solar photovoltaic and thermal equipment from Canada and around the world.
Attendance this year is up 65 per cent and the number of exhibitors has more than doubled, a sign the market for clean technologies remains a bright light, even during recessionary times. Where past conferences attracted mostly industry and government types, this year, officials have noticed an increase in investors and lawyers prowling the showroom floor in search of potential deals.
"It's bigger, it's better," said association spokesperson Sylvie Powell. "We have three Canadian ministers here and one from Spain and a delegation from Germany. It seems this is the place to be."
Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman told a lunchtime crowd the current economic turmoil creates an opportunity for Ontario to play a leading role in North America's emerging green-energy economy.
"There is no better time to blaze a new trail," said Smitherman, adding that new legislation and programs will be introduced "very shortly" that streamline the rules and provide more certainty for project developers and companies looking to invest in the province. "I think you're going to be very happy with the approach we're going to take."
One likely change, he hinted, will be in the way the government procures renewable-power supply for the grid. The government currently pays a fixed rate under long-term contract for renewable electricity that comes from projects less than 10 megawatts in size, but larger projects must go through a costly and complex bidding process.
Sources said the government, as part of a new green-energy act being developed, is likely to extend the fixed-rate approach – called a feed-in tariff – to solar, wind, and bio-energy projects of all sizes.
Be patient, said Smitherman. "You'll see that the revised program was worth the wait."
Sandra Pupatello, the province's minister of international trade and investment, and Lisa Raitt, federal minister of natural resources, also spoke at the conference. Earlier in the day Raitt announced that Ottawa is investing in the development of occupational standards for installers of solar and geothermal systems.
It will also be supporting development of a national curriculum for designers and installers of solar-energy systems. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges has been charged with developing the curriculum, which will be shared with colleges and universities across the country.
"These two projects will bring the training of solar installers into Canada's mainstream institutional training environment," said Raitt.
Ian MacLellan, founder and vice-chair of Waterloo-based Arise Technologies Corp., said support for training is important but it means little – and can create false expectations – if jobs aren't created to accommodate the newly trained.
Arise, for example, made enough solar cells in its last quarter to supply the Canadian market for an entire year. In 2009 it will be able to manufacture the same amount in just one month. Those cells, however, are made in Germany.
MacLellan said he never intended to go to Germany, but in May 2006 the government there approached him with an offer he couldn't refuse: $80 million toward construction of a plant. Less than two years later the plant is operational and has more than 70 employees.
He would like to build in Ontario but is eagerly waiting for the right signals from government. "In Ontario right now the glass is half full."