Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Ontario makes dark horse bid for North American cleantech crown

From VentureBeat:
While the United States has remained at an impasse over the extension of its clean energy tax credits, the Canadian province of Ontario has been busy positioning itself as a go-to destination for cleantech’s mountains of cash.

Ontario initiated a flurry of incentive programs aimed at increasing its overall renewable energy production capacity in early 2004 through its 20-year energy plan, dubbed the Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP). Its goals were to obtain an extra 5 percent, or 1,350 megawatts, from renewable sources by 2007 and 10 percent, 2,700 megawatts, by 2010.

Optisolar, 6N Silicon, Cyrium Technologies and Verdant Power are but a handful of companies that are either based in Ontario or that have plans to build projects there. Several of these have received generous backing from the government, with Mississauga-based 6N Silicon, a manufacturer of low-grade silicon, securing nearly $8 million. Hayward, Calif.-based Optisolar has begun construction on a 50 megawatt plant in Sarnia and plans on adding two more 20 megawatt projects in nearby Petrolia and Tilbury.

Its first initiative was to launch the Request for Proposals (RFP) program, through which the government purchased power directly from renewable energy projects. In 2005, it started ReNew Ontario, a five-year, $30 billion plus plan to renovate and rebuild the province’s ageing infrastructure....MORE

A couple of our previous posts on Ontario:

Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, trust a politician.

For my money Oregon is the place you oughta be, load up the truck and move to Sublimity.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"free money" for Oregon business owners who invest in solar.

That headline is a quote, I couldn't make it up. This either: In many cases, the incentives and credits paid end up being more than the actual cost of the system.

Alrighty then, time to hit the Oregon Trail.

From EnergyDaily