Financing completed for 100MW Kingston, Ont., solar project

TORONTO—Samsung Renewable Energy, Inc. has partnered with infrastructure investment firm Connor, Clark & Lunn (CC&L) to provide equity funding for a proposed 100-megawatt solar project in eastern Ontario.

According to CC&L, it signed a deal with Samsung to fund the massive solar project in Kingston, Ont., marking the two firms’ second large solar project financed together.

A similar partnership was formed to finance the 100-megawatt solar portion of the Grand Renewable project, a 250-megawatt wind and solar energy project in Haldimand County, Ont., along the shores of Lake Erie.

Construction of the massive project started with the installation of 67 Ontario-made wind turbines.

Siemens Canada Ltd. won the contract to manufacture the 49-metre blades at its facility in Tillsonburg, Ont., while CS Wind Corp. won the contract to build the towers at its Windsor, Ont., plant.

All steel for the project was sourced from Essar Steel Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

The Kingston solar project will follow a similar made-in-Ontario approach, according to CC&L, with solar modules and inverter houses manufactured in London and Guelph, Ont., by Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. and inverters made in Toronto by SMA Canada Inc.

Canadian Solar Solutions will also act as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project, according to CC&L.

Construction is expected to launch “soon,” with completion expected by late 2015.