Small-scale renewables allowed to jump queue in Ontario
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Ontario is famous for coming out with progressive programs and then trying to shoe-horn them into existing policies and procedures, with the end result being delay, dissatisfaction and eventually dead projects. When the province launched its standard offer program for renewable projects under 10 megawatts, developers of projects less than 500 kilowatts — e.g. farmers trying to set up biogas systems or community co-ops putting in a couple of wind turbines — found they were treated like the multi-megawatt big boys. They had to apply to the local distribution company for a “connection impact assessment,” which required a detailed engineering study. This application process typically involved a five-month wait in the queue before the application was even considered.
Somebody has finally realized that, hey, that dinky anaerobic digestion system or school-top solar system isn’t really going to impact the grid that much so, well, maybe we should let them skip ahead of those big wind farms that are hogging everyone’s attention and time. That “somebody” is the Ontario Energy Board, which amended rules that will now let renewable projects between 10 kilowatts and 500 kilowatts in size avoid the queu altogether. Now, the local utility can still delay the project if it has any concerns, but at least these small developers can get to judgement day five months earlier. You can read the full story here.
The next step, which we’re supposed to see in the new Green Energy Act to be tabled next Monday, is a “right to connect.” We’ll see.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
