A deal closed today that lets a giant into the renewable energy scene in Ontario. In a controversial move, Premier McGuinty signed a $7 billion agreement with Samsung, the industrial giant of South Korea.
The deal will let Samsung construct solar and wind farms in Ontario, as well as build four new manufacturing plants in the province.
The Ontario government hopes the move will create as many as 16,000 new jobs in the green energy sector over a six year period, helping the province towards its 50,000 green-collar job creation goal.
And the timing couldn’t be better. At least from the government’s point of view. After a steady decline in the manufacturing sector, Ontario is positioning itself to become Canada’s leader in the emerging clean energy sector, with thousands of new manufacturing jobs that could become available. McGuinty expressed satisfaction with the opportunity ahead, and stated: “We will be delivering more green energy for Ontarians to use – and more green energy products for North Americans to buy… With this step, Ontario is becoming the place to be for green energy manufacturing in North America.”
While replacing dirty coal-fired power generation with clean energy is a good thing, many people feel that ‘green’ should also mean ‘local’. Many are questioning the deal and claim that it gives a huge company an unfair advantage over smaller, local clean energy producers, who have invested much in time and resources to enter the evolving renewable power market.
The agreement gives the South Korean consortium the chance to generate 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power, providing clean electricity to 580,000 households, with claims that Samsung would be getting paid slightly higher rates for the electricity it produces and would receive guaranteed space on the province’s crowded electricity transmission lines.
Proponents argue that the deal is a huge step forward for Ontario. Whatever the case, as the renewable energy sector continues to evolve and expand, there is no reason not to achieve a two-fold benefit – for both the environment and the economy.
