Canada: funding for clean transportation projects

Calgary, Alberta – Eighteen clean technology projects will receive $40 million in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), including hybrid technologies for transportation. The funding is intended to help move innovative technology solutions to market.

"SDTC and the Government of Canada are providing industry the tools they need to become more productive, competitive and efficient," said Juergen Puetter, chairman of SDTC. "When these companies bring their technologies to businesses and consumers, they create jobs, provide Canada a technological edge and contribute to improving the quality of Canada's air, water and soil."

The new investments bring SDTC's total portfolio value to over $1.6 billion. The SDTC is an arm's-length foundation created by the government of Canada, and includes the $550 million SD Tech Fund for projects that address climate change, air quality, clean water and clean soil, and the $500 million NextGen Biofuels Fund, which supports the establishment of first-of-kind large demonstration-scale facilities for the production of next-generation renewable fuels.

The projects include an advanced battery system for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) by Electrovaya Corporation of Mississauga, Ontario, which will be tested in a fleet of Ram 1500 PHEV trucks; a hybrid auxiliary power unit for tractor-trailers by EnerMotion Inc. of Caledon, Ontario; and a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries by Phostech Lithium Inc. of Candiac, Quebec.

Http://www.sdtc.ca

Biggest solar PV plant in North America started

First Light, the largest solar PV facility in North America, will be located in Ontario, Canada. It will be developed by SkyPower Corp and SunEdison Canada and it will feature an astonishing 19 MW.

The joint venture will not only build the plant, but it will also operate it. The plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2009, although the first 9 MW should be connected to the grid during 2008. The Ontario Power Authority will purchase the electricity produced by the plant.

In 2006, the Ontario government launched the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program, a scheme to promote investment and employment in the green power industry. The First Light announcement is a clear sign that the goals set by the Standard Offer Program are reachable, according to both companies.

According to Mr Gerry Phillips, Ontario's Minister of Energy in just one year the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program has met the target set for the next ten years. Ontario aimed for 2,700 MW of green power to be installed by 2010.

Indeed Canada, with plenty of land available and little population, could easily supply a substantial amount of energy with solar power in the coming years. A fast-growing network of solar companies is being developed in the country, so robust growth in solar capacity is only a matter of time.

http://www.skypower.com/
http://www.sunedison.com/

Ontario to pay big power users to cut demand

Provincial power authority signs contracts with U.S. middlemen to co-ordinate demand reduction during peak times: Two U.S. power-management companies, Boston-based EnerNOC Inc. and ConsumerPowerline, of New York City, announced last week they each had signed five-year contracts with the OPA to arrange a 25-megawatt reduction in demand from heavy users on those days when the electricity system faces a surge in demand.
Source: GlobeMedia