The deal aims to build 2.5GW of wind and solar projects and four manufacturing facilities in the province. It is expected to bring as many as 700 jobs to the city with one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada.
It will create 300 full-time manufacturing jobs and another 400 indirect construction and service jobs for the city, said Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid.
Samsung and CS Wind have also pledged to use 100% Ontario steel in the manufacture of the towers, a projected consumption of 200,000 tonnes a year.
CS Wind expects the plant to be operational by early 2012 and turn out 200-300 towers a year. "Our new Ontario plant will supply not just Canada, but also all of North America. We intend to make it a part of our success story," said the company’s chairman Sung gon Gim.
The announcement was part of a jobs blitz by the provincial government as it fights back criticism of its green energy policies.
A day earlier, Duguid was on hand to mark the start of construction of International Power Canada’s 48.6 MW Pointe-Aux-Roches Wind Project and highlight the 126 jobs it will create in Essex County and the use of Ontario steel in its towers.
Today, the province and Siemens Canada are expected to unveil the location of Ontario’s first wind turbine blade manufacturing plant, which will create up to 300 factory jobs and up to an additional 600 construction and indirect service jobs.
