Ontario to See $3.66 Billion in Project Construction Starts in Second-Quarter 2015, Fueled by Natural Gas, Wind Power

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ontario's Power Industry is the driving force behind $3.66 billion in projects expected to kick off in Canadian province in the second quarter of 2015. More than half of that amount is attributed to projects fueled by natural gas and wind power, according to Industrial Info's project database, and all but $150 million of the total can be found in four industries: Power, Metals & Minerals, Pharmaceutical & Biotech, and Food & Beverage.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing planned second-quarter 2015 project kickoffs in Ontario by industry.

As in most U.S. regions, the Power Industry leads all others, with about $2.23 billion in projects set to kick off in the second quarter in Ontario. The largest of these is TransCanada Corporation's (NYSE:TRP) (Calgary, Alberta) $1.2 billion, natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plant in Napanee. The plant is expected to use two 275-megawatt (MW), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries M501GAC combustion turbines, each with Vogt duct-fired, heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), as well as a 395-MW Mitsubishi steam turbine generator. Kiewit Power Engineers Company (Lenexa, Kansas) is performing engineering services.

The Metals & Minerals Industry boasts $1.15 billion in projects that are scheduled to kick off, including New Gold Incorporated's (TSX:NGD) (Vancouver, British Columbia) $877 million construction of the Rainy River Gold and Silver Mine near Emo. The project, which is part of a 69 million-ton-per-year open pit and underground operation with a 14-year mine life, initially will involve the construction of a 19,500-ton-per-day open pit mine and a 21,000-ton-per-day gravity-leach mill, which will produce 243,000 and 429,000 ounces per year of gold and silver, respectively. AMEC Americas Limited (Oakville, Ontario) is performing engineering, procurement and construction services.

The Pharmaceutical & Biotech and Food & Beverage industries are tied in third place, each with $67 million in Ontario projects set to begin construction in the second quarter. Taro Pharmaceuticals Canada, a subsidiary of Taro Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NYSE:TARO) (Hawthorne, New York), plans to spend $25 million to upgrade, retrofit and debottleneck key three buildings at its manufacturing facility Brampton. Taro expects to boost production at the facility from 20 to 40 generic products, including creams, ointments, capsules and tablets.

The Food & Beverage Industry's largest project is Piller's Fine Foods' (Waterloo, Ontario) $15 million plan to perform upgrades at a meat processing & distribution center in Waterloo. The company also plans to construct a new enterprise resource management system, plus related automated systems, at the 100,000-square-foot facility. Piller's is a subsidiary of Premium Brands Corporation (Richmond, British Columbia).

Of the $3.66 billion in total investment value for projects expected to kick off in Ontario in the second quarter, a little more than $2.24 billion is attached to projects currently in the engineering stages. About $1.35 billion worth are in the planning stages, where plenty of factors still could increase, decrease or totally eliminate the expected spending , while $74 million worth already is in the early construction stages.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.