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Innovation in electricity: Northland Power Inc.

November 20th, 2011 by weijiaqin

On the topic of successful entrepreneurship, much can be said of Facebook, Windows, and Apple. However, there is a start-up company just as innovative and refreshing as its technology-dominant counterparts: Northland Power Inc. Founded in 1987 by James Temerty, the company redefined a brand new venture within the Cnadian market: that of independently producing electrical power.

During the 1980s, few were thinking far ahead enough about environmental sustainability and conservative innovation. However, Tmerty was ahead of the game when he began his successful venture. Temerty began by using recycled wood residue from nearby sawmills as fuel for production. He at first only produced from a 10-megawatt power plant in northern Ontario. Today, the company has grown into a large electricity provider for communities in Ontario, Quebec, and Saskaetchwan. By using environmentally-friendly green biomass-fuelled power (as opposed to fossil fuels), the plant produces more than 815 megawatts of electricity for power consumers. Temerty says that he plans to expand into other parts of Canada as well as the United States in the near future.

Northland Power Inc. is a successful entrepreneuring venture not only because it was able to become profitable, but also because it exemplified a level of forward thinking and innovation that was ahead of its time. It is due to this fact that the company was able to obtain a leadership position in the clean-electricity industry in Canada, and capitilize on a simple, sustainalbe idea.

Picture source: http://intuitech.biz/?p=1434
Source: http://www.ey.com/CA/en/About-us/Entrepreneur-Of-The-Year/Awards-and-events/2010-winner-profile—Temerty

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