Ontario Feed-in Tariff Programme

Ontarios Feed-in Tariff (FIT) programme, in effect as of October 2009 allows all sizes of generators, from homeowners to large developers to participate, providing a fixed tariff for electricity produced and fed into the electricity grid. The programme has prices that are intended to cover total project costs and provide a reasonable rate of return over a 20-year contract (40 years for waterpower), provides a straightforward way to obtain a contract for renewable electricity generation, and is open to various renewable energy technologies: biogas, biomass, landfill gas, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and waterpower. The scheme has different prices for different technologies and different project sizes and includes domestic content requirements. The programme provides specific incentives for Aboriginal projects as well as for community-based projects. FIT payments can range from CAD 10.3 cents per kilowatt-hour (CAD c/kWh) for landfill gas projects larger than 10 MW to 80.2 CAD ¢/kWh for residential solar rooftop projects 10 kW or smaller. The FIT also includes a "price adder" for Aboriginal and community projects to encourage participation. Developers will be required to have a certain percentage of their project costs come from Ontario goods and labour at the time they reach commercial operation, as follows: - For wind, the requirement will start at 25% and increase to 50% on Jan. 1, 2012. - For micro solar PV (10 kW or smaller), the requirement will start at 40% and increase to 60% on Jan. 1, 2011. - For larger solar PV (> 10 kW), the requirement will start at 50% and increase to 60% on Jan. 1, 2011.

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