CTV News Ottawa

Updated: Sun Sep. 27 2009 2:03:22 PM
The Canadian Press

TORONTO — South Korean electronics and industrial giant Samsung is in talks with the Ontario government to establish a renewable energy business in the province.

In a release, Ontario says talks have been ongoing for months and progress is being made toward an agreement.

In May, Samsung announced plans to enter the wind turbine market in 2010.

The company has also entered the solar panel business, and both solar panel and wind turbine manufacturing in Ontario are reported to be part of the talks.

Ontario's manufacturing sector has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in the face of the global recession.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has championed his government's Green Energy Act as a significant move to attract green investment to the province.

Ontario says the proposed investment with Samsung is significant and would be a "very early sign of success" of the act.

The new act includes a feed-in tariff program -- the amount paid to producers of renewable energy -- which will range from 10.3 cents per kilowatt hour to 80.2 cents.

The feed-in tariff payments are designed to encourage large- and small-scale energy production.

Ontario consumers currently pay 5.7 cents per kilowatt hour up to a certain monthly threshold, after which the rate rises to 6.6 cents.