Ontario’s Highland Solar announced early in July that it sold 150kW worth of solar panels the previous month, helping to fuel the wave of renewable energy installations taking place across the province. This uptick in solar energy sales is an indication that Ontario’s incentive programs are succeeding in creating jobs and boosting the province’s economy.
A division of Highland Logic, Inc., Highland Solar is the exclusive Canadian distributor for California-based Westinghouse Solar, and it is a licensed manufacturer of Westinghouse’s racking systems as well. Ontario customers who purchase Westinghouse solar panel installations through Highland have the option of putting no money down or paying upfront and receiving an 8-12% return on their investment.
Province Offers Solar PV Training and Materials
Westinghouse Solar is a partnership between Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Akeena Solar. Akeena’s solar panels are noted for their performance and won Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Product of the Year for 2009. The mounting hardware for Westinghouse’s installations are produced in Ontario, which qualifies them as “domestic content” under the province’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program - an incentive that offers lucrative returns for clean electricity fed into the grid. However, approved solar and wind projects must source up to 50% of materials and labour in-province. The program is designed to bring investment into the province and create jobs. If Highland’s figures for June are any indication, the strategy is working.
Ontario’s green energy industry continues to thrive under the FIT, not simply because of the high sales or rapid expansion of the solar market, but also because the incentive program stimulates job creation, and thus, demand for solar PV training and related classes. Schools like Ontario Solar Academy offer monthly workshops designed specifically to equip novices and veterans alike with the requisite tools to flourish in the new green economy. And by all accounts, this nascent industry is in need of a qualified and knowledgeable workforce. Early next year, construction is set to start in London, Ontario on a solar panel manufacturing facility, and Samsung Corp. has plans to build the world’s largest solar and wind energy cluster in Ontario. Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, predicts that the Samsung project will create as many as 16,000 new green jobs.
