Mike, Thanks for chiming in on who is doing what regarding the infrastructure. The complexity of the governance and control of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity throughout Ontario is mind boggling; the average homeowner is typically only aware of their LDC, not MOE, OEB, ESA, OPA, OPG, and the fact that Hydro One is LDC on steroids, since they are also on the transmission side of the infrastructure. Many are also not aware that most LDCs are structured such that their sole shareholder is the Municipality.

Regarding RFP model vs. FIT: The fact that as we move forward, prices will be set at contract award vs. project application, pretty much brings us back to the RFP model for project solicitation & development. The main differences being that there is no competitive bidding process and, barring constraint-related issues, one will be awarded a PPA. To comment on Mark’s concern, Yes – It is difficult to sell something for which the price has not as of yet been determined. Developers who have traditionally identified a buyer prior to developing a project will need to revise their business model to be more along the lines of the RFP-era developers.

Speaking on FIT mandate, I believe that FIT is to encourage renewables-based electrical generation project development. As such, geothermal and/or solar thermal heating and cooling are not part of the programs mandate. I agree that these types of developments should be similarly encouraged, as they directly contribute through consumption reduction of electricity, oil, natural gas, etc. But trying to identify the nega-watts in order to develop FIT rates per KWh, though theoretically possible, could prove problematic.

My final spin on the changes being proposed through the Report are that the FIT program is really trying to incentivise Municipalities and communities to address their looming waste management crisis through biomass/biogas/landfill gas-based project development! Yes, Paul, it’s all for you. How to kill two birds with one stone; not that I advocate the stoning of birds.

P.S. My discussions with Morgan Solar suggest that market potential for their product, based on kWH/sq.m/day, is fair in Ontario, but that there are other markets wherein it is higher on which they are currently focusing.

The bigger problems from my point of view are what you mention about the 10-100kW, that there is not enough pressure to accelerate approvals and improve the connection delays and refusals, and that the price to be paid out will be determined at time of acceptance by OPA. That is, in fact, what has just happened, but what just happened was a somewhat reasonable response to the huge delays in approvals; now we will have a formal situation in which vendors are supposed to sell something for which they really don’t know the price…. That is wrong. The problem is slow approvals, not changes in prices.

On the other hand, shortening the installation delay to 18 months reduces the risk of embarrassment to the government of paying too much for systems where the price has dropped drastically.

Regarding two points, transmission build-out and distribution grid upgrades, these efforts are outside of the FIT mandate, but are being acted on. I participated at the beginning of a Hydro One, GE, IBM project which is hardening the distribution system with smarter central management combined with smarter semi-autonomous substations for local grid power management. Similarly, there are existing projects to strengthen transmission within Ontario and to other jurisdictions. Have a look in Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan. http://www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/pdf/MEI_LTEP_en.pdf