Sean Moore had worked in a Ford plant for 12 years when the auto industry crashed in 2008.
Out of the blue, the manufacturing engineer found himself among the thousands of workers in Windsor, Ont., who were suddenly wrenched from what they thought were secure, life-long jobs.
“It was devastating,” says Mr. Moore, 39.
But not for long.
“You only get to go around once,” he says. “You might as well challenge yourself.”
Three years of hard work later, Mr. Moore is president of Unconquered Sun, a company with 25 employees – expanding to 50 by July – that assembles and installs solar photovoltaic systems, which use the sun’s energy to generate electricity.
The company operates out of a former auto-parts factory.
Mr. Moore’s story and business location are both typical of a major shift in Ontario’s economy.
With car makers and other traditional manufacturing on the decline, renewable-energy companies – with strong provincial support – are taking up some of the slack. The government aims to have 50,000 people working in the sector by the end of next year.
Solar is among the most promising sources of those jobs.
The industry combines small, locally owned, businesses such as Mr. Moore’s and large, international corporations. Those aiming to develop solar installations are attracted by premium prices paid for electricity generated from renewable sources. A regulation that, as of Jan. 1, requires solar projects to include at least 60 per cent Ontario content fuels the manufacturing boom.
Other provinces are investigating solar power, but Ontario dominates the industry in Canada and is second in North America.
“There’s just no contest,” says Elizabeth McDonald, of the Ottawa-based Canadian Solar Industries Association. “Ontario is the California of Canada in terms of solar.”
The government says 30 clean-energy companies have launched or expanded in Ontario since 2009, when the Green Energy Act authorized establishment of North America’s first feed-in tariff program.
The tariff pays 44.3 to 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity from solar installations. Rooftop installations earn a higher rate than those on the ground; smaller projects get more than larger ones.
All the rates are far above the wholesale price for electricity, about four cents per kilowatt-hour, or what residential customers pay: less than 7.5 cents.
“It is a generous rate of return,” says Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid. “We felt, we’ve got an opportunity. If we jump out ahead of the world … we have the potential to be a big player in the world market.”
So far, “we’ve exceeded all expectations.”
The industry association estimates that last year, solar-related companies employed 3,000 people in Ontario. “By 2013, there could be 25,000,” says Ms. McDonald.
To date, more than 200 megawatts of solar capacity has been built in Ontario, with another 1,200 under contract. Projects range from tiny residential rooftop installations generating less than 10 kilowatts to “farms” that cover hundreds of hectares and can produce dozens of megawatts.
Their construction is creating thousands of short-term jobs. One example is the 800 employed to build Enbridge Inc.’s 80-megawatt Sarnia solar farm – the world’s largest in operation.
Toronto-based SkyPower has been awarded the most solar-generation contracts under the tariff program, but global giants are also developing these projects, often linking with local manufacturers to meet the domestic-content rule.
South Korea’s Samsung received guaranteed access to the grid for solar and wind projects in return for a commitment to manufacture in Ontario. An announcement on solar production is expected soon, Mr. Duguid says.
Multinational powerhouses MEMC and Flextronics will make solar panels in Newmarket, north of Toronto, for generation projects to by built by Maryland-based SunEdison, a solar energy producer active in the province. That plant will employ up to 400 people.
