Company proposing Thunder Bay solar panel plant unsuccessful in other cities

A company that outlined a plan to Thunder Bay councillors on Monday night, about building a solar panel manufacturing facility in the city, has made similar presentations to other communities.

Energy North Bancorp told council on Monday night it wants to build a solar panel plant, which would employ between 3,000 and 5,000 people once fully constructed. The plant would make solar panels, using raw materials from the region.

Ross Beatty, one of the partners in Energy North Bancorp is also affiliated with a number of other solar power companies, including Solar Source Corporation and Solar Bancorp.

Those companies issued news releases in 2010 proposing to bring solar panel facilities to Prince Edward Island and Windsor, Ontario. Those plans never materialized.

The project in Windsor included that city agreeing to build a 45,000 square-foot facility, at a cost of $4 million, and then leasing the plant back to company.

Beatty told city councillors in Thunder Bay he is only looking for support from the city, in the form of a letter of interest, specifying the city would welcome the development.

'A little unusual'

Warren Mabee, an associate professor at Queen's University who studies renewable energy said most companies in Ontario assemble solar panels, and do not manufacture the components from start to finish.

"It sounds like they're talking about manufacturing the panels initially from scratch. That is a little bit unusual. A lot of the panels have come in through import from other jurisdictions."

Mabee said demand is growing for solar panels, and new technology makes them more attractive to powering remote areas.

"We're in a phase where there's kind of steady growth," he said.

"As people decide to install the panels, the demand continues to come up. And, importantly as the price of solar panels continues to come down, it's more in line with the price of electricity."