My Clean Break column today is a bit of an update on ZENN Motor, the potential of EEStor’s EESU, and an interesting comment about EEStor from Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, who before becoming an entrepreneur had plans to enroll in engineering graduate studies and focus on ultracapacitors for vehicles. I also mention some interesting work on ultracapacitor materials being done at Queen’s University in Kingston, and talk about a new ultracapacitor bus operating in Shanghai that will be demonstrated Wednesday in Washington, D.C. (for another more detailed article on the ultracap bus check out this Technology Review article).

I’ve posted before on SkyPower and SunEdison project First Light, a 9.1 megawatt PV farm near Kingston, Ontario. But just wanted to point out one of my more recent articles on solar parks in Ontario, and provide a link to a short video clip of the First Light site.

Seems strange that Toronto is hosting an offshore wind conference, but I suppose it’s an endorsement of the potential Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes offer as a home for offshore wind projects. I hope to attend some of this conference, which takes place Wednesday Oct. 21 and Thursday Oct. 22, because hopefully I’ll get some more insight into where Ontario and other jurisdictions are heading. Donna Cansfield, Minister of Natural Resources, is giving the first day morning keynote address, and she’s expected to provide an update on the status of Ontario projects. Click here for the program and information on venue.

Calgary-based Alter NRG Corp., which has plasma gasification technology that can turn biomass and coal into syngas, is also going after the energy-from-waste market. The company announced today that it has signed an MOU with Dufferin County in Ontario, which includes Orangeville, to build a 2-megawatt power facility that will convert 75 tonnes of municipal solid waste each day into electricity. Construction on the $32 million facility is expected to start in late 2010 and full operation will commence in late 2012, if all goes as planned. Alter NRG said Ontario is an ideal market because incentives exist for the power that comes from clean-energy facilities and regulations have been streamlined to speed up development and construction of projects.

It will be interesting to see how Alter NRG’s technology and approach compares with that of Plasco Energy, which is operating a pilot waste-to-energy facility in Ottawa and has had more than its share of problems over the past couple of years. Alter NRG, I should point out, is the company that purchased geoexchange development company Clean Energy Developments two weeks ago.

I had a chance to chat with Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk late last month about Tesla’s plans in Canada and to probe him on his own early days in Canada after arriving as a 17-year-old from South Africa. Musk, before making his way to Silicon Valley and striking it big, spent three years travelling across the Canadian west visiting relatives (his mom was born in Regina, Saskatchewan) and attending undergraduate studies in Kingston, Ontario, at Queen’s University. It was at Queen’s where he hitched up with his wife-to-be before heading off on a scholarship to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Of course, from there he went to California and founded Zip2, PayPal, Space X and finally Tesla Motors. The electric car maker recently opened a sales office in Toronto and Musk says Canada is an important market for the company, partly because the majority of the electricity comes from emission-free sources, but also because he believes electric cars appeal to Canadian sensibilities. If you’re interested in learning more, read my just published Toronto Star feature on Musk and Tesla Motors.