Queen’s University professor Joshua Pearce is available to talk about today’s announcement of the Ontario government’s multi-billion dollar deal with Samsung to develop wind and solar power projects.“The Ontario government has definitely bent over backwards to give Samsung access to higher quality farm land that no one else will have access to. You will see other solar power representatives being very upset with this deal,” says Professor Pearce. “This project is a pretty big deal on the wind side. It looks like there will be full-scale manufacturing of wind turbines in Ontario and that’s what we need. On the solar side, it’s not as clear what Samsung’s plan is. Because of Ontario’s content restrictions, it’s likely Samsung will have to put in an assembly plant here. But it is in our best interests if they put in a complete manufacturing plant in Ontario.”Joshua Pearce is an assistant professor in Queen’s Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department. He is an expert is solar photovoltaic technology and received his Ph.D. in Materials (Engineering option) from the Pennsylvania State University. To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or e-mail michael.onesi@queensu.ca, or Kristyn Wallace at 613.533.6000 ext. 79173 or e-mail kristyn.wallace@queensu.ca at News and Media Services, Queen’s University.