'Hotbed of green technology'

Finally, rural people of Eastern Ontario have an edge.

Eternally handicapped compared with big-city competitors, rural areas can now claim an advantage: They're much better positioned for the "hot" solar generation industry, Joe Jordan of Upper Canada Solar Generation told about 100 area leaders gathered at the Johnstown Community Centre on Friday.

"Rural economies are generally disadvantaged. We're not now. You can't put a large solar farm in the middle of Toronto," Jordan told an attentive crowd of business leaders, politicians and farmers.

Leeds-Grenville MP Gord Brown called the local area "a hotbed of green technology."

Due to the 1998 ice storm, "we have an infrastructure that was rebuilt way ahead of schedule," Jordan said. "We have an excellent location here."

Jordan was one of seven presenters on the bio-products/green technology panel, organized by the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville as part of an ongoing economic development series.

He stressed that green technology needs to be profitable to ensure it is sustainable.

"Let's be very clear: I'm not looking for trees to hug. I'm looking for dollars to make," said Jordan, a former Member of Parliament who in 2007 started UC Solar Generation north of Brockville with a group of partners, including his brother Mike Jordan.

"We need to ensure that these things are not just a fad."

In Johnstown -home to the new Greenfield Ethanol plant -many people warmly promoted biotechnology and green energy systems Friday.

"It is now time to focus on green-inspired technologies that can play a significant role in the economy," said Counties Warden Bill Thake.

Brown called it "an industry with great growth potential right here in Leeds and Grenville."

The federal Green Energy Fund of $1 billion over five years is part of the government's "ongoing efforts to building a low-carbon economy" and reduce greenhouse gases 20 per cent by 2020, the MP said.

Rising energy costs and advances in green technology have made solar generation more attractive to farmers and other investors, Jordan said.

"I think the $80-a-barrel oil shook the tree a bit," he surmised, noting that solar energy is more profitable than it was half a decade ago.

"People putting solar panels on their roof five years ago were doing it for reasons other than their wallet."

The Ontario Power Authority's new Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program is making green technologies attractive to investors.

"This industry is in its infancy," said Jordan, adding that Ontario "is an extremely hot market for solar...