Fronius Canada is expanding its solar manufacturing capabilities with a new plant in Mississauga. The company plans to open a 50MW-capacity production facility for solar inverters in the city by the first quarter of 2011. The new plant will take advantage of Ontario’s feed-in tariff program, which offers lucrative contracts for energy fed into the grid from renewable sources. “Ontario is one of the most important markets of the future for Fronius,” explains Romuald Goure, the company’s Managing Director. “We are confident that other provinces will launch similar incentive programs in the future. Ontario is certainly a strong role model in this respect.”
Fronius is an international company, based in Austria, which focuses on the welding, automobile, and pipeline industries, and has now moved into solar energy, as well. Solar manufacturing is new to Fronius’ Mississauga subsidiary, which has provided solar sales and service since 2007. The company will begin hiring sales and technical support staff in August and expects to initially create forty green jobs in the region, eventually bringing that number up to 100. Fronius will rely on graduates of Ontario’s solar training programs, as employees in all departments, including sales, will require an understanding of solar power systems and inverter technologies.
The Mississauga plant’s first assembly line will manufacture Fronius’ IG Plus grid-tie inverters, designed for residential and commercial systems up to 250 kW. The company hopes to expand into other areas in the future as it takes advantage of the benefits of doing business in Ontario.
Company, Province Require Workforce with Solar Training
Ontario’s feed-in tariff has helped to create a whole new industry in the province in less than a year and a half, but because solar manufacturing is still relatively new within the region, companies like Fronius may have to compete to recruit new talent. While the province offers a number of schools and training programs breeding the next generation of solar installers and trades people specialized in PV applications, the green job market may grow faster than its workforce if the current influx of new projects maintains its pace.
