Canada: Ontario Large Renewables Procurement Update

At the first day of Ontario's 5^th Feed-in-Tariff and Renewable Energy Forum on March 17^th, 2014, Shawn Cronkwright, the Ontario Power Authority's director of renewables procurement, presented capacity targets for large renewables by technology for the years 2014 and 2015:

In reviewing key feedback from municipal meetings, to avoid multiple developers simultaneously engaging in projects which may never proceed, it was suggested that community engagement be moved to the Request-for-Proposal (RFP) stage as opposed to the Request-for-Quote (RFQ) stage. As an alternative, feedback suggested that a municipal support resolution similar to the FIT program be applied and that developers be required to prepare community engagement plans. With respect to the RFP, feedback from municipal meetings suggested that decommissioning bonds be required to ensure municipalities not be left with costs at the end of a contract.

Public meetings suggested that communities should have a veto with respect to siting of proposed projects.

Feedback from First Nations and Métis focused on the timing of environmental due diligence, suggesting it be done during the RFQ stage in order to identify issues early in the process.

In contrast to the feedback from First Nations and Métis, meetings with industry associations expressed concerns related to satisfying community engagement criteria at the RFQ stage when key project details are typically not fully known. These meetings also emphasized the need to release complete transmission availability tables as soon as possible and in advance of the RFQ. More information was also requested concerning whether or not technologies would be competing against each other for transmission availability.

A preliminary LRP timeline suggests the first RFQ stage is scheduled to begin on April 1, with short-listed qualified applicants being determined in November and successful proposals announced in July of 2015. The next RFQ stage is scheduled to begin August 2015, with short-listed qualified applicants being determined in February 2016 and successful proposals announced in September 2016.

It is not yet clear how the Ontario Power Authority will apply feedback from these stakeholder meetings but further announcements are expected in the coming weeks, given the proposed launch is targeted before the end of the month.

For more information on the LRP, see the Ontario Power Authority's website.

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