Executives from the Ontario Technology Corridor are attending Eco Expo Asia 2010 in Hong Kong this week to introduce environmental technology companies that can help solve growth-oriented issues in the world’s largest cities. The Canadian province also offers North America’s most advanced green energy policies, targeted incentives and a generous feed-in tariff program to expanding Asian companies.
Ontario is home to 110 head offices of clean technology companies that are predominantly engaged in the development and marketing and/or use of their own proprietary technology to deliver products or services that reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) projects that by 2015, these Ontario clean technology companies will generate revenues in excess of $1 billion. In addition there are over 2,800 environmental industry companies in Ontario, generating approximately $7 billion in revenue and employing 65,000 people.
Two of those companies, Ottawa-based Plasco Energy Group and Clearford Industries Inc., are already active in China. In June of this year, China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP) and Plasco Energy Group announced an agreement to establish a Joint Venture corporation, CECEP-Plasco China Corp. Plasco will provide its world leading energy-from-waste Plasco Conversion System technology to be delivered in China through this Joint Venture. And in July, Clearford announced its first contract in China to design its patented SBS™ system for development of wastewater collection and treatment in the Hubei Province. Furthermore, Clearford has also attracted private equity investment from the number one boutique investment bank in China as ranked by ChinaVenture.
“For the Asian solar industry, Ontario’s most compelling attraction is the Ontario Power Authority’s feed-in tariff, or FIT Program, modeled after successful programs in Germany and France. It features North America’s first comprehensive, guaranteed pricing structure for renewable electricity production, offering stable prices under long-term contracts for solar photovoltaic, on-shore and off-shore wind, biomass, biogas, landfill gas, and waterpower energy,” said Michael Darch, Executive Director, Global Investment of OCRI, Ottawa’s leading economic development organization and an Ontario Technology Corridor partner.
A total of 694 feed-in tariff contracts in Ontario have already created 20,000 direct and indirect green energy jobs and attracted about $9 billion in private sector investment from around the world. “We are actively welcoming Asian companies to participate in our province’s green energy partnerships,” says Darch. “There is fertile ground for significant cooperation.”
Ontario is currently a North American leader in the adoption of green energy policies with its passing of the Green Energy Act in May 2009. Other targeted programs available to the alternative energy and clean technology sector include: Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund, Ontario Innovation Demonstration Fund, Ontario Power Authority Technology Development Fund, SD Tech Fund, and SDTC’s NextGen Biofuels Fund.
About the Ontario Technology Corridor
Employing nearly 272,000 people among 6,700 companies, the Ontario Technology Corridor’s clean technology initiative includes the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa Region, City of Hamilton, Waterloo Region, City of London, Municipality of Chatham-Kent and the Niagara Region. The Corridor also welcomes in partnership the Province of Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade as well as the federal government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
The Ontario Technology Corridor offers a highly educated workforce, excellent growth opportunities, a low-risk business environment, and generous R&D tax credits that are the envy of other countries. The Corridor is supported by the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), OCRI (Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation), Canada’s Technology Triangle, the London Economic Development Corporation, the Niagara Economic Development Corporation, the Hamilton Economic Development Office and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. For more information, go to www.ontariotechnologycorridor.com.
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