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A solar panel manufacturer that made its Windsor, Ont., debut in May announced Thursday it will lay off 70 of its 120 employees.  A solar panel manufacturer that made its Windsor, Ont., debut in May announced Thursday it will lay off 70 of its 120 employees. file picture/CBC

A solar panel manufacturer that made its Windsor, Ont., debut in May announced Thursday it will lay off 70 of its 120 employees.

Siliken Renewable Energies said it will have to cut its Windsor operations from three shifts down to one starting on Monday, and Production manager Richard Monk is blaming election politics for a slowdown in sales.

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak has said he plans to kill green energy deals if he becomes the premier in October.

"We have new customers that want to place orders but they're hesitant because of the negativity," Monk said.

The Spanish company had hoped to open a third and fourth line of production by October, but that is now on hold. Siliken wasn't sure how long the workers would stay on layoff.

Monk also blames poor sales on the slow pace of getting renewable energy projects connected to the power grid.

Former Windsor mayor John Millson is president of another renewable energy manufacturer called Great Lakes Energy. He said they're busy, but if Hydro One picked up its pace in adding solar and wind power to the grid, business would be better and more jobs would be created.

'Once Hydro One opens the floodgates, we will easily be hiring another 60 to 70 people, without any hesitation.'â€Â"John Millson, Great Lakes Energy

"You have no idea how quickly the jobs would be required," said Millson. "Once Hydro One opens the floodgates, we will easily be hiring another 60 to 70 people, without any hesitation."

Millson said he has talked to Hudak, and been assured existing renewable energy contracts will be honoured if the Conservatives form the next provincial government.

Connectivity a priority: Duguid

Energy Minister Brad Duguid said the connection issue is being addressed. He said the government has put more power through the current energy grid and added more than 10,000 new connections in the last year, with more to come soon.

"We've got over 300 â€Â" many of them in the Windsor area â€Â" that will be brought on because of the investments we're making in upgrading 10 transformer stations," said Duguid.

The minister's office said Duguid meets weekly with Hydro One and the Ontario Power Authority and is committed to resolving the problem with the overwhelming demand to add more connections to the grid.

Duguid said the clean energy economy has attracted $20 billion in investment. The government wants to add 50,000 clean energy jobs by 2012.

"Connections [are] not the reason why there'd be uncertainty in the market," Duguid said. "The only thing driving uncertainty right now is a political uncertainty brought about by Tim Hudak's reckless promise to kill our clean energy economy and take down thousands of jobs with it."

Feed-in-tariff programs require wind and solar products to be produced in Ontario, the minister said.

Windsor MPP's Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello described the connection problem as "growing pains," saying it's the overwhelming success of the 2-year-old FIT program that has created capacity issues.

Duncan said Windsor requires another major line between London and Windsor.

Tories want to scrap OPA

Peter Shurman, the Progressive Conservative Economic Development critic, said the blame for Siliken layoffs rests solely on the shoulders of the McGuinty government, because the government can't process FIT applications fast enough.

In addition to cancelling the FIT program, the Tories want to scrap the Ontario Power Authority. Shurman called the government body "another insular layer."

Shurman said renewable energy would remain a part of the Ontario supply source if the PCs are elected.

"However, we just don't believe in supplying it with a FIT program that delivers electricity at 80 cents per kilowatt hour when it should cost five [cents]," Shurman said.

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