Provincial loan fund will finance renewable energy bids
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/04/2012 (5081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
THE province is creating a loan fund to help Manitoba companies bid successfully on local and international renewable energy projects.
Premier Greg Selinger announced the $30-million fund Friday on the shop floor of CG Power Systems Canada Inc., a Winnipeg company that makes large transformers, which are sold throughout North America.
Selinger said the fund will help businesses be more competitive and create new jobs. Its launch comes as Manitoba Hydro is poised to spend $18 billion on new dams and transmission lines over the next decade.
Local companies and those intending to set up shop here will qualify for assistance, which may also include loan guarantees and staff-training help.
The fund will also be used to encourage made-in-Manitoba equipment used in geothermal, wind, next-generation biofuel, biomass, solar, smart-grid and other renewable energy initiatives.
Selinger said Manitoba Hydro already uses some of the best transmission technology in the world. Much of it is supplied by CG Power Systems.
“By putting this fund in place, it allows companies that want to be part of that success story to expand in Manitoba and then develop products that can be exported around the world,” he said.
Ian Harrison, vice-president of sales and business development with CG, said he will have a better idea how the company might take advantage of the fund once he sees more details. The firm may be able to tap into it to train staff and acquire new capital equipment or to pursue green technology, he said.
“Any help that we can get to be more competitive we’ll readily accept.”
CG’s facility on Rockman Street just west of Pembina Highway employs more than 300 people. Its roots are in the 1940s, when it helped take electricity to rural Manitoba. It is now owned by a Mumbai-based conglomerate.
Harrison said local companies are not guaranteed business from Manitoba Hydro megaprojects.
“We have to be as competitive as any other company that’s bidding,” he said. “The only favouritism that we would have for local businesses is if all other things are equal, they may choose to place work here in Manitoba.”
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca