Ontario becoming North American green energy leader

TORONTO, CANADA: Soon, even more Ontario homes and businesses will be powered by green energy.

The province has just delivered the largest green energy initiative of its kind in Canadian history. Under the Green Energy Act's feed-in tariff program, 184 new contracts for big, green-energy projects have been approved. This is in addition to 510 medium-sized projects already announced. The contracts could generate more than 2,500 megawatts -- enough electricity to power 600,000 homes.

As well, the domestic content requirements in these projects will mean thousands of new jobs in the growing green energy sector and about $9 billion in private sector investment.

The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, made the announcement in Cornwall, located in eastern Ontario -- a region where 60 green energy projects with a potential generating capacity of 900 megawatts have been approved. This includes three 10-megawatt ground-mounted solar projects in the Cornwall area.

Ontario's Green Energy Act is part of the government's Open Ontario Plan. It provides a stable price for clean energy producers so they will invest here and create up to 50,000 Ontario jobs.

"Ontario has a vision for green energy -- we will be a North American leader. We have practical, aggressive policies to secure green energy generation, research and manufacturing, which will create good jobs in a growing industry," said the Premier.

Quick facts
* The three Cornwall-area solar projects are: Northland Power (10 MW) in Cornwall; Effisolar (10 MW) in the Township of South-Glengarry; and Penn Energy (10 MW) in the Township of South-Glengarry.

* Since 2003, about 1,300 megawatts of renewable electricity have come online in Ontario -- enough to power more than 300,000 homes -- or a city the size of Windsor.

* Ontario is Canada's leader in wind power and solar photovoltaic capacity. The province is home to both Canada's largest wind and solar farms.