S. KOREA & CANADA IN WORLD’S BIGGEST NEW ENERGY DEAL

Ontario signs green energy deal with Samsung team; Deal with South Korean consortium will hike rates, critics warn
January 21, 2010 (CanWest News Service via National Post)

"Ontario has signed a multibillion-dollar deal with a South Korean consortium, which includes Samsung, to develop green energy in the province.

"The group, which also includes the Korea Electric Power Corp., will set up production facilities to manufacture wind turbines and other renewable energy equipment, and it will also develop large swaths of wind and solar farms…The consortium's investment in the project - which promoters say is the largest of its kind in the world - is estimated at between $5-billion and $7-billion…"

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"The first phase of generating projects will go into…counties in southwestern Ontario…The deal would see the consortium receive preferential treatment from the province, in the form of priority access to the energy grid and higher-than-market rates for the renewable energy it creates as part of Ontario's new feed-in-tariff (FIT) program."

Ontario seems to have found the right formula. (click to enlarge)

"…Samsung and the Korea Electric Power Corp. will establish and operate a series of wind and solar power clusters over the next 20 years…The clusters, which will be built in several locations throughout the province, will eventually include wind turbines that will generate up to 2,000 MW as well as solar power facilities that will generate up to 500 MW…The agreement, which would add money to every Ontario hydro bill, is projected to create up to 16,000 jobs. Roughly 4,000 will be permanent…"

"[S]ome in the renewable energy sector were outraged…The Ontario Electricity Coalition - while fully supporting windmills and green jobs - says it's not in favour of private [and therefore secret and potentially unfair] power deals…"