In case you’re interested…
Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. of Hemlock, Michigan, is spending up to $500 million (U.S.) to expand its polycrystalline silicon production capacity. It’s a sign that the silicon shortage that has held back already stellar growth in the solar PV market will be a non-issue over the next year or two as more production comes online.
The Ontario government has announced nine new renewable energy projects — eight of them involving wind power — that will provide 975 megawatts of clean energy to the grid. These latest projects are the result of the province’s second request for proposals. Ontario hopes to add 2,700 megawatts of renewable energy to the grid by 2010. With this announcement the province is about half way toward that goal, having so far contracted for 1,370 megawatts.
In case you’re interested, a new poll shows how strongly Canadians support the use of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, as part of the country’s overall fuel mix. The poll was conducted by The Strategic Counsel for the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.
Ballard Power is in the early stages of trying to find an R&D and manufacturing partner in China. “When you look at the potential in China, the growth in China, and the environmental issues in China, there are natural forces there saying that China could be a number one market for fuel cell technology,” Ballard chairman John Sheridan told Bloomberg News during a trip to Beijing.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
