The group, which also includes the Korea Electric Power Corp., will set up production facilities to manufacture wind turbines and other renewable energy equipment, and it will also develop large swaths of wind and solar farms.

The consortium's investment in the project - which promoters say is the largest of its kind in the world - is estimated at between $5-billion and $7-billion.

"By executing this project, the Ontario government will be one step closer to taking the lead in the North American green energy industry by securing the industrial infrastructure for low-carbon growth, creating new jobs and establishing a renewable energy cluster," Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, said Thursday.

The first phase of generating projects will go into Chatham-Kent and Essex-Haldimand counties in southwestern Ontario.

The deal would see the consortium receive preferential treatment from the province, in the form of priority access to the energy grid and higher-than-market rates for the renewable energy it creates as part of Ontario's new feed-in-tariff (FIT) program.

According to the deal, Samsung and the Korea Electric Power Corp. will establish and operate a series of wind and solar power clusters over the next 20 years. Source...