SunEdison, a division of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., has announced its plans to produce racking equipment for its Canadian solar projects with Samco Solar, a Division of Samco Machinery Ltd., a Scarborough, Ontario based equipment and part manufacturer strongly focused on automotive.

Expected to directly and indirectly result in more than 100 green jobs in the province, this investment supports SunEdisons continuing activities to accelerate the completion of solar PV projects in Ontario.

"Ontarios Green Energy Act has established our province as a beachhead in the clean energy economy," said Brad Duguid, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. "It has already attracted $16 billion in renewable energy investment which will help create a projected 36,000 jobs."

Since 2008, Samco has experienced a 63% decline in their automotive sales, traditionally an area of strength for the company, which resulted in a 37% decline in their workforce. This new contract with SunEdison will create a 25% increase in Samcos labour force, generating 15 to 18 permanent and highly skilled jobs. The balance of the new jobs will stem from the build out of SunEdisons commercial rooftop projects.

"This contract and the FIT program of the Ontario government have helped to stimulate growth in our company," said David A. Pichard, VP Solar Business Development at Samco Machinery Ltd. "Working with a solar powerhouse like SunEdison has provided our organization with a significant opportunity for expansion into the green energy sector."

Retooling of the Samco plant has already begun. Using SunEdisons proprietary design, which has been deployed globally on over 300 roof-tops, the first solar racking is expected to come off the line in September 2010. SunEdison also foresees exporting the solar racking equipment to the U.S market.

"Weve been very pleased with the manufacturing expertise in the province as demonstrated by Samco," said Jason Gray, Vice President, Canada for SunEdison. "Production of the racking is extremely cost competitive here in Ontario, enabling us to produce product for U.S. export."

The initiative will enable SunEdison to meet or exceed the domestic content requirements for its commercial roof-top solar PV projects as outlined in Ontarios Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program, which will require 60 percent of solar equipment used in its projects to be produced locally by 2011. "Together, with the support of local communities, we continue to advance the goals of the Green Energy Act," concluded Gray.

Further Information: SunEdison (www.sunedison.ca)

For more information, please send your e-mails to pved@infothe.com.

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