August 30, 2017
Written by Cleantech Canada Staff
Aug. 30, 2017 – The Ontario government is starting a fund to support the creation and commercialization of green technologies, provincial officials announced yesterday.
The Low Carbon Innovation Fund will support technologies in areas such as alternative energy generation and conservation, new biofuels or bioproducts, transportation, and carbon capture and usage.
Ontario says that this initiative is funded by proceeds from the province’s carbon market, and $25.8 million has been allocated to the fund.
The fund includes two streams:
The Technology Demonstration stream will support the development and commercialization of low carbon technologies through testing in real-world settings. Self-assessments and Expressions of Interest for the Technology Demonstration stream are due September 22, 2017.
The Technology Validation stream will fund proof of concept or prototype projects from eligible Ontario companies or academic organizations. Applications for the Technology Validation stream will open in fall 2017.
Projects eligible for funding include new greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction technology that addresses a specific need, and projects that show a significant improvement to an existing GHG reduction technology solution.
Eligible projects must be conducted in Ontario and have the potential to play a significant role in helping the province meet its GHG reduction targets.
“By investing proceeds from Ontario’s carbon market into innovative initiatives such as the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, our government is helping accelerate the growth of Ontario’s thriving cleantech sector. This will ensure Ontario companies develop homegrown solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help the province transition to a prosperous, low-carbon economy,” said Chris Ballard, Ontario minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
The province says it has the fastest growing cleantech sector in Canada, with $8 billion in revenue, 3,000 companies and 65,000 employees.