The City of Kingston is the latest Ontario community to express its support for offshore wind in Ontario. At its December 20 Council meeting, Kingston City Council approved a motion supporting the efforts of The Lake Ontario Offshore Network (LOON) – a newly formed consortium of Lake Ontario based organizations that have come together to encourage and facilitate the development of offshore wind power in Ontario.
At its Council meeting, the City of Kingston joined the City of Hamilton in supporting LOON and officially recognizing the estimated contribution of $850 million in direct economic benefits to members of the local wind energy supply chain.
Support from the City of Kingston will come in the form of direct support from its Mayor and the CEO of the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) working in tandem with Hamilton counterparts to support, facilitate and expedite the development of offshore wind at the provincial level.
“Kingston is a key market for green technology investment and jobs. We are doing what we can to support the industry and to ensure that those investments come to the City of Kingston,” stated Mark Gerretsen, Mayor of the City of Kingston.
“The Wolfe Island Shoals project alone has the possibility of attracting 1900 construction jobs and over 175 full time jobs. Kingston’s regional economy stands to greatly benefit from offshore wind moving ahead and KEDCO will do what it can to support LOON’s efforts,” stated Jeff Garrah, CEO of KEDCO.
With more than 2,900 MW of offshore wind power proposed in the Great Lakes over the next five years, the Lake Ontario Offshore Network is preparing for the anticipated growth in offshore wind energy and encouraging Ontario’s government to do what it can to attract these jobs and investments to Ontario.
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Source: newswire, December 22, 2011