British startup Awendio Solaris is drawing up plans to invest as much as C$1billion (£540million) into a solar technologies factory in Canada.
While the plans are in the pipeline, Awendio Solaris said it still needed to secure power supply and financing.
The group wants to build a manufacturing facility and a research and development hub on an industrial site in the Montreal region.
The site would manufacture solar cells and assemble solar panels for North American utilities, delivering up to 2,500 megawatts of annual production capacity in its first phase, Awendio Solaris said on Thursday.
The move comes amid growing global demand for renewable energy, as countries and companies race to secure cut carbon emissions and secure clean power sources.
Indigenous groups, The Naskapi Nation, Wendat Nation, and Kanien’kehá:ka, are joining as investor-partners in the project, Awendio Solaris said.
Plans: Awendio Solaris is drawing up plans to invest as much as $725m into a solar technologies factory in Canada
Canada’s First Nations are buying stakes in Canadian projects at an accelerating pace as they seek economic benefits from projects on their land and companies look to raise capital.
In a statement this week, Awendio Solaris said: ‘Our goal is to establish one of North America’s largest fully integrated silicon solar PV manufacturers, with the ambition to create close to 1,000 high-quality manufacturing and R&D jobs while primarily serving the US market as well as the Canadian market, and leveraging a fully north American supply chain.’
Awendio Solaris said construction was expected to begin in the second quarter of next year.
Marc Deschamps is the co-founder and chief executive of Awendio Solaris and has a background in tech and investment banking.
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