Celestica to create 300 solar panel jobs
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.
Related News

National Energy Board hears oral traditional evidence over Manitoba-Minnesota transmission line
WINNIPEG - Concerned Indigenous groups asked the National Energy Board this week to take into consideration existing and future impacts and treaty rights when considering whether to OK a new hydro transmission line between Manitoba and Minnesota.
Friday was the last day of the oral traditional evidence hearings in Winnipeg on Manitoba Hydro's Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission project.
The international project will connect Manitoba Hydro's Bipole III transmission line to Minnesota and increase the province's electricity export capacity to 3185 MW from 2300 MW.
#google#
During the hearings Indigenous groups brought forward concerns and evidence of environmental degradation and restricted access to traditional lands.
Ramona Neckoway, a…