A New Mexico manufacturer of solar equipment is negotiating to establish a plant in Sault Ste. Marie to help a green energy developer triple the size of its solar farm project and expand its projects across Ontario.
Pod Generating Group is bringing aboard Emcore Corp., a maker of solar power systems to supply and install solar panels and other equipment for multiple Sault solar farms worth a 60 combined megawatts.
The two companies have signed a memorandum of agreement. 
Pod Generating president and COO Glen Martin said the relationship with Emcore will be in the form of an engineering procurement and construction contract for “ongoing operations and maintenance” of their future solar projects.
Emcore is key in Pod’s ambitious plans for more developments in the Sault and across Ontario.
Pod’s previously announced solar farm project for the city is getting a whole lot bigger.
The solar energy developer, headed by Martin, a former Saultite, expanded plans for its $120 million project from 20 megawatts to 60 megawatts, a project worth $360 million. As one of Canada’s largest solar projects, it will supply enough power 9,000 homes.
Martin said under the terms of a contract, Emcore will be responsible for all engineering, fabrication and installation, along with being in charge of operations.
However, Martin says the Emcore plant won’t be set up in time for the start of construction expected to begin this spring. Initially, equipment will be coming from plants in the U.S.
Details are still being worked out the Sault plant’s size, location and employment needs.
But equipment for their Sault solar farm and Pod’s other planned projects elsewhere in Ontario will be manufactured in the Sault as part of the contract requirements.
“Eventually the (Emcore) facility is expected to become a supplier for other (solar) developers in Canada and the northeastern U.S,” said Martin.
Pod’s initial 20 megawatt projects (consisting of two, 10 megawatt farms) , announced last summer, will be built on the city’s west end. The additional 40 megawatts will be constructed on the east side.
Emcore has a long history in the solar industry for space applications.
The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company is a provider of equipment used in broadband, fibre optic and solar power used in satellites. Among their clients include space agencies in Canada, Japan, India, Brazil, Argentina and Europe, along with corporate clients at Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grummon.
But Emcore is making a big push for more ‘terrestrial solar’ opportunities. The Sault project is one of its first.
The company is focusing on solar facilities in the 10 MW range such as the kind Pod is developing.
“We are very pleased to receive the opportunity to deploy our first order of utility-scale solar power systems in support of (Pod’s) projects in Ontario,” said Earl Fuller, vice-president of Emcore’s Solar Power Systems division, in a statement.
On Emcore’s website, the company states their industry-leading photovoltaic systems will be used at the Sault’s “turnkey” operation.
“We are working with Emcore to finalize the optimal blend of technologies for the site and local solar resources,” said Martin.
There is little chance the Sault solar farm will get much bigger since the project has maxed out the local distribution grid.
Last summer, the Ontario Power Authority announced plans to procure an additional 2,000 megawatts of green renewable power to double the total amount of renewable energy to 4,000 megawatts.
A similar 50 megawatt farm is being built in Sarnia run by OptiSolar Farms Canada, a subsidiary of California’s OptiSolar Inc.
Pod has secured the licensing and permits from the Ontario government, having signed the province’s Standard Offer Program to supply power to the provincial grid for 20 years.
News of the expanded solar farm is helping promote the Sault’s new image in branding itself as green energy community with other investments by Brookfield Power in its $400-million Prince Wind Farm and with Algoma Steel’s $135 million co-generation facility under construction.
