Celestica to create 300 solar panel jobs

Toronto - Electronics manufacturer, Celestica, will create 300 jobs for workers to make solar panels at its Don Mills manufacturing facility in Toronto.

The company announced recently that it will supply the panels for Recurrent Energy, a solar power developer with contracts for 19 facilities in Ontario.

Celestica expects to manufacture "hundreds of thousands" of panels for Recurrent Energy over the next two and a half years, said CelesticaÂ’s senior vice president Mike Andrade.

Each panel is worth about $600. Celestica will sell panels to other solar developers as well, Andrade said.

Energy minister Brad Duguid was on hand at the plant announcement to talk about the new jobs and the clean energy.

The Conservatives have been criticizing the Liberals for driving up the price of electricity by signing dozens of new contracts at prices higher than the wholesale market rate.

Duguid said the Liberal plan to boost renewables and shut down all the province's coal-burning generating stations by 2014 will save the province billions in health care costs.

He also noted the stress that U.S. president Barack Obama had put on renewable energy in his State of the Union address last week.

Ontario's push for renewable energy makes it a "global juggernaut" well poised to take advantage of an expanding clean energy sector in the U.S., he told reporters.