An Ottawa firm is among the first recipients of the Business Development Bank of Canada’s new clean-tech fund.
Four Canadian clean technology firms, including Renfrew-based Ensyn Technologies, will split $40 million from BDC. The financing, made available through a larger sum of $700 million allocated to the investment bank in the 2017 federal budget, is meant to help promote clean technologies and help firms with a start in the sector to scale their operations.
There’s no word on exactly how much of the pie will go to Ensyn, which turns forest residues into renewable fuels, but we do know what the local firm will put the money towards.
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Ensyn is building a new, large-scale production plant in Quebec that will produce 40 million litres of fuel annually. By comparison, its current facilities in Renfrew generate roughly 13 million litres of renewable fuel each year.
The business development bank says it’s expanding its investment parameters to include firms with promising technology that haven’t yet commercialized a solution. The BDC’s focus on green technologies is part of a federal government promise in last year’s budget to invest $2.3 billion in clean tech.
“With this expanded mandate, BDC’s overarching objective is to help build a commercially sustainable clean-tech industry that will, over time, be able to attract more of the necessary private sector capital to grow,” said BDC clean-tech practice vice-president Susan Rohac in a statement.

