niversities with top programs in cutting-edge renewable energy research are proving to be a strong lure for manufacturing startups in the Great Lakes region. The largest of these projects is poised for development in Kingston, Ont., home of Queens University. The Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Queens, which specializes in solar cell research, was a major lure in Everbrite Solar's decision to locate in Kingston.
      Everbrite Solar is a subsidiary of Toronto-based Everbrite Industries, an industrial and commercial electrical contractor. Dave Hardy, Everbrite Solar's CFO, says the company also looked at sites in nearby Smith Falls, Ont., and in Saint John, N.B.
      "We looked at a number of important factors," Hardy says. "One is the essential ability to sell our product into the provincial market, and that was a factor that helped us choose Kingston. Saint John is developing an energy hub, and that is somewhat attractive. However the hub there at this point is not advanced on the solar side of things to provide us a good provincial market. Smith Falls, which is smaller than Kingston, had the available industrial infrastructure."
      Everbrite is licensing technology from a European firm, and will manufacture thin-film solar modules in a highly automated and efficient process. Hardy says he cannot reveal the firm's name due to a confidentiality agreement.
      "Rather than purchase panels in China or Taiwan or out of the U.S., we decided to purchase the technology," Hardy says. "We realized the advantage of manufacturing panels locally exceeded the cost effectiveness of importing panels into the country."
      "One of our main factors in choosing Kingston is proximity to Queens University, which has very advanced solar research capabilities with some very leading-edge faculty who are keen to work with us," Hardy says. "The second factor is industrial readiness. There are some large vacant manufacturing facilities nearby that do not require rezoning or services. There is also a good supply chain in the area with aluminum manufacturing nearby."
      Everbrite plans to locate its manufacturing operation in a 500,000-sq.-ft. (46,450-sq.-m.) building previously used by Nortel to produce wire products. Everbrite's first solar panel line, with a capacity of 150 megawatts (MW), will employ about 300. Hardy says as business grows, capacity could be expanded to 450 MW.
      "It's the ideal size for our manufacturing and allows room for future growth," Hardy says.
      Everbrite management was finalizing financing for the CA$500-million (US$402-million) project in April. Hardy expects a groundbreaking to take place by June, with the first panels produced by late 2010.       Hardy says Everbrite's projected market covers four areas. The primary market will be industrial and public building roofs. He says a number of private property owners and municipalities have expressed interest in the panels.
      The second market will be utility scale solar fields. Everbrite hopes to supply some of the 2,000 MW of solar fields approved in Ontario. Everbrite will also be supplying Gander Energy, a merchant utility specializing in renewable energy. Gander is a sister company to Everbrite and is also run by Hardy (who serves as its CFO) and his three partners. The fourth market is retail.
      "The Ontario market is pretty strong," Hardy says. "The government is very keen on getting solar into the province. There is virtually nothing here now, so we are almost at the starting line in terms of growing and expanding."
      Ontario's proposed Green Energy Act, if approved in June, will give a feed-in tariff of C$0.82 per kilowatt-hour for rooftop solar installations. Hardy believes that will spur huge solar investment in the province.
      Hardy says Kingston's location, about a half-hour drive from the U.S. border, is good for logistics, as it offers a short supply chain.
      "We will be looking for glass and gases, and we anticipate buying from Ontario and U.S. manufacturers. The one area that is growing in the Great Lakes region is alternative energy," Hardy says. "The border states of Michigan, Ohio and New York, plus the province of Québec, are all strong mega markets."       Everbrite management views the connection to Queens University as essential. The Everbrite plant will include a C$25-million (US$20-million) 1-MW pilot plant purely for research purposes. That excites Queens University faculty like Joshua Pearce, a mechanical and materials engineering professor who is one of several researchers ready to partner with Everbrite. He is the lead investigator in the University's photovoltaic program, and specializes in thin-film solar cells.
      "It's a true marriage that will help both sides," Pearce says. "The pilot plant will be to scale and will produce solar cells the same size. We plan to tie Queens research directly to the pilot plant. Every time my group does an experiment that slightly improves the solar cell efficiency, it can be scaled up immediately. The pilot line makes that possible. For a manufacturer to shut down a line to do an experiment is economically prohibitive. Everything can be directly tied together, allowing innovation to move much more rapidly. The things we know will work, we can immediately implement on the main line."
      Solar energy research goes back many years at Queens. The university has been part of the solar car racing program since the late 1980s. Current research revolves around extracting more energy from solar cells.
      "As students are trained on the pilot line, particularly our graduate students, they will be future employees of Everbrite," Pearce says. "That's exactly what Queens is here for, and we are quite excited about it."       Technology developed at Grand Valley State University in Muskegon, Mich., has been turned into a "wind turbine in a box" by Earthtronics, a startup firm now seeking a site for the first of what it says will be several manufacturing plants.
      The company proposes to produce its Windtronics turbines by late summer, to be distributed by Ace Hardware Stores. The turbines will retail for about $3,800.
      Windtronics turbines produce their power at the edge of their blades rather than a gearbox used by larger turbines. Earthtronics is targeting residential and light commercial customers.
      The technology was developed by researchers led by Dr. Imad Mahawilli at Grand Valley State University's Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center. But while the technology was developed in Muskegon, full-scale manufacturing won't necessarily happen in the Western Michigan city on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
      Reg Adams, CEO of Earthtronics, says he expects to have a final location decision by mid-May. He says it will be the first of several plants strategically sited around the globe.
      "For the first plant, we are looking at two opportunities in Michigan, one in the Toronto area, one in Oregon and one in China," Adams says. The Michigan sites are in Muskegon and Ann Arbor.
      Because Adams wants to begin manufacturing operations quickly, he is looking at existing buildings in each of the locations. "We want to have both retail and commercial models going as quickly as possible," he says, "and that will weigh heavily in our location thought process."
      Earthtronic's global production plan calls for one factory in North America, one in Europe, one in China and one in India.
      Adams expects to produce the turbines at a clip of 4,500 per month by the end of the year. He says the first plant will employ 60 to 80 during its first year.