Chinese Wind Tower Manufacturer Helps Energize Niagara, Ontario’s Economy

By Doug Draper

Niagara, Ontario’s economy – battered for years by the loss of manufacturing jobs – received a much-needed boost this June 26.

For the second time this month, Niagara has learned it will be a site for a plant producing parts for wind turbines – announcements that set this region on a path to becoming a hub for green energy production.

TSP CEO Chris Xie announce’s company’s first Canadian manufacturing plant in Niagara, Ontario.

The first announcement was for 50 new jobs and a $5-million investment by a German-based company called ENERCON to produce electrical parts for wind turbines at a plant it is setting up in the Niagara municipality of Lincoln. This time it is a China-based company called Shanghai Taisheng Wind Power or TSP for short, investing $25 million to create 150 jobs, and ultimately 250 or more, at the former Hayes Dana auto parts plant in the Niagara municipality of Thorold to produce the giant towers for wind turbines.

“This is a great way to start summer,” said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, an Ontario Liberal government member who spoke on behalf of Premier Dalton McGuinty at the June 26 announcement for the new TSP plant.  “You have confirmed this government’s belief (that wind and solar power can lead to new jobs and prosperity for the province) when it created the Green Energy Act,” he told TSP’s chief executive officer, Chris Xie, who had just received the applause of dozens of local officials for making the announcement.

Xie said the old Hayes Dana plant, which shed hundreds of jobs before closing more than three years ago, is an “excellent location” with the Welland and Canal and rail lines running right by it, and easy access to major roads. “This is a wonderful place. We can do business here,” he said.

 The first phase of the new plant, creating 150 full-time jobs, will be up and running this coming year, followed by a second stage that will add at least another 100 jobs to the mix.

 TSP, which has adopted the name TSP Canada Towers Inc. for its Canadian operations, has earned a reputation over the past two decades as one of China’s leading producers of towers for wind turbines, with five manufacturing plants in that country. The plant in Niagara is the first of its kind that the company is setting up in Canada.

TSP’s June 26 announcement at former Hayes Dana plant in Niagara municipality of Thorold

“Today is a great day for Niagara’s economy,” said Niagara regional government chair Gary Burroughs following Xie’s announcement. Recalling the years long ago when the old Hayes Dana site was a “bustling manufacturing plant,” he thanked TSP for “breathing new life into this facility,” and for helping to put the region on the map as a producer of green energy technology. “It is my hope that Niagara’s green energy cluster will continue to grow,” he said.

Merv Croghan, head of the Niagara Region’s Wind Corporation that is involved in a partnership with St. Catharines, Ontario-based Rankin Construction to build and operate a wind farm for generating electricity off the shores of Lake Erie in Wainfleet, said thanks should go to the province’s McGuinty government for passing the Green Energy Act three years ago. The legislation is moving Ontario toward cleaner energy and the jobs that come with producing it, and away from dirtier forms of energy like coal, he said. 

Earlier this June, Burroughs’ regional council voted down motions some councillors brought forward on behalf of hundreds of rural Niagara residents that would have called on the province to, among other things, declare a moratorium on approving any more wind farms in Ontario until more independent studies are done on the potential health and economic impacts on residents living in the vicinity of such facilities. Some of those opposed to a moratorium cautioned that such a move might discourage the kind of investment announced by TSP this June 26.

A statement by the Ontario premier, released during the TSP announcement read, in part; “My colleagues and I remain committed to ensuring a safe, reliable and sustainable supply of energy for present and future generations. … Thanks to our many partners – individuals, communities, businesses and municipalities – we are succeeding in building a clean and green energy future that supports a reliable supply of electricity, and the sustainability of our environment.” 

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