Canada: Sunny Days Ahead For 500 FIT 3.0 Applicants

OPA offers 500 renewable energy contracts through FIT 3.0 process and is prepared to make 63 additional offers under the Unconstructed Rooftop Solar Pilot

On July 7, the Ontario Power Authority ("OPA") published a list of 500 renewable energy contract offers under its Feed-in Tariff  3.0 ("FIT 3.0") Program, which are expected to produce 123.5 megawatts ("MW") of power.

The list of successful applicants is heavily skewed in favour of solar projects. Of the 500 contract offers, 490 are solar photovoltaic ("PV") projects, which account for 120.89 MW of the 123.5 MW approved by the OPA. The 10 successful non-solar applicants can be divided into eight bioenergy projects; one wind energy project, and one waterpower project.

The successful solar projects vary in size. Smaller approvals include several 15-40 kilowatt ("kW") rooftop solar PV projects for local school boards while the larger approvals include nearly 100 projects in the 500 kW range. Projects above 500 kW are subject to a separate procurement process known as the Large Renewable Procurement process (discussed in previous posts found here, here, here and (most recently) here. 

As expected, the approved projects typically had support or participation from the local community. The OPA reports 257 projects (60 MW) with Aboriginal participation, 81 projects (21.5 MW) with community participation, and 161 projects (42 MW) with municipal or public sector entity participation. 95 per cent of the successful applications received municipal support resolutions.

The FIT 3 announcement was accompanied by an OPA declaration that it was prepared to offer 63 contracts, representing 15 MW, to successful applicants who applied to the Unconstructed Rooftop Solar Pilot.

Under Ontario's Long-term Energy Plan, the FIT program has a designated procurement target of 150 MW each year. The OPA expects to publish details about the next FIT Program application window in the coming weeks.

For more information regarding FIT 3.0, please consult our earlier post about the program.

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