FIT and MicroFIT Scheduled Review Flawed, Hurts Ontario Industry

By JP on November 2, 2011 12:10 PM

Ontarians should be proud of North America's most progressive FIT program. However Ontarians should also be upset that the OPA appears to be violating both the spirit and letter of its own FIT rules in this Scheduled Program Review. Namely:

• FIT Rule 7.1(b) stipulates that

  The price incorporated into the FIT Contract that will be offered to applicants whose Applications have been accepted ... will be the applicable price as set out in the Price Schedule at the time of the Time Stamp.

  The Time Stamp is the date and time of electronic submission, as defined in Section 4.1(a). Clearly, back-dating the effectiveness of this change violates rule 7.1(b)
• FIT Rule 10.1(b) stipulates that

  Notice of any Amendment as a result of a Scheduled Program Review will be posted on the Website at least 30 days prior to the effective date of such Amendment.

  For MicroFIT rule 7(b) states

  Notice of any amendment as a result of a Scheduled Program Review will be posted on the microFIT Program website at least 90 days before the effective date of the amendment

  Clearly, then, the earliest possible effectivity date for any changes as a result of this review would be 30 days (90 days for microFIT) after October 31st, when the Scheduled Program Review was announced. Any applications Time Stamped prior to that should be eligible for the rules prior to the Amendment.
• The FIT program was conceived to help create a stable and predictable market for renewable energy in Ontario and thereby establish and grow a new manufacturing sector. This point was made several times during the OPA conference call on November 2nd, 10am EDT. By back-dating the effectiveness of the Program Review and by having an open-ended program review the OPA is starving the market of projects that were applied for long ago and effectively blocking the market from securing new projects until the completion of the Review (and a known set of program rules and pricing). This is yet another in a series of disruptions to the marketplace by the OPA, the sum of which acts as a tremendous disincentive to all levels of the supply chain: Customers lose confidence in the solidity of the program and, by association, the viability of the technology; the entire pipeline of work dries up forcing layoffs by installers, distributors, and manufacturers; and financiers lose confidence in Ontario as a place to invest. This is not a stable and predictable market.

The OPA and the Minister of Energy need to be called out on these apparent contract violations and clear market disruptions. Supporters of solar in Ontario should contact their MPP and the Minister of Energy and complain that the FIT Review Process is flawed and is causing significant harm to a nascent industry that is only just getting established.

Here's a link to the announcement

Email Minister Bentley

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