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The lure of Ontario’s attractive subsidies, especially for firms with “local content,” has enticed another solar company to set up manufacturing and expand operations in the Canadian province. SMA Solar Technology has started a subsidiary for production, sales, and service in Ontario, with plans to invest €5-10 million for the buildout of a 500MW capacity photovoltaic inverter factory.
The German company says that site selection for the plant should be completed in the first half of the year, and manufacturing of its Sunny Boy, Sunny Central, and Sunny Island products will begin in the fourth quarter. SMA’s expansion should result in the creation of 100-200 jobs.
The moves come after one of the other major inverter companies—Satcon—has been aggressively taking advantage of its strong base in Ontario, where it has a production facility and many customers.
The SMA Group says it will also be increasing production capacity at its site in Kassel, Germany, and its other North American factory in Denver, CO.
Capacity will rise to around 10GW by the middle of year at the Niestetal and Kassel locations, and to about 1GW in Denver when the initial phase of production starts there during the summer. The facilities in its home country will remain the main locations for production and technological development, according to the company.
