Toronto: On June 3, the Ontario Power Authority announced that it would be offering as much as 1050 MW worth of contracts under the FIT program to a group of projects in the Bruce and west of London areas. Up to 750 MW will be in the Bruce transmission area, and up to 300 MW will be offered in the West of London transmission area.
The new contracts are largely for projects that had been on hold pending completion of the new Bruce to Milton transmission line. The line is close to completion. Many of those projects are relatively mature, with development and applications pre-dating the FIT program in some cases. The OPA also published updated Transmission Availability Tables and Distribution Availability Tables reflecting the new transmission line.
A special process applies for these contracts. The projects to be included in the assessment must be on the FIT Priority Ranking list for either the Bruce or West of London transmission areas. Eligible proponents were given five business days to change their connection points. The location of the project itself could not be changed during the connection point change window. Projects with connection points that trigger upgrades only to the connection parts of the system (the costs of which are the responsibility of the proponent) will be eligible to receive a contract offer where capacity is available. After the change of connection window closes, the OPA will carry out a new Transmission Availability Test and at that point, contracts will be offered based on transmission capacity availability and the priority project ranking in both of the eligible transmission areas.
The OPA said it anticipates offering contracts in late June. It also noted that “The OPA continues its work on the ECT process.”
The related Ministerial Directive was also released on June 3.