The Ontario Power Authority announced September 11 that it had begun accepting applications from a wider range of Ontario industries for incentives to invest in new facilities or expand existing ones under Stream 3 of the Industrial Electricity Incentive (IEI) program.
Applications will be accepted until November 10 and contracts are expected to be offered to successful applicants by the end of the year.
In return for building new or expanding existing production facilities, Stream 3 participants will receive a reduction in the associated costs of electricity for a contract term ending the earlier of 10 years or until December 31, 2024. Up to four terawatt-hours of electricity have been allocated for this stream of the program.
Mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction and manufacturing companies continue to be eligible for the program. Stream 3 of the program expands eligibility to other energy-intensive industries, including greenhouse, nursery and floriculture production, refrigerated warehousing and data processing. The complete list of eligible industries is in the Program Rules document.
The IEI program is designed to support a “dynamic and innovative business climate in which companies can thrive, grow and create jobs while assisting in the management of Ontario’s strong electricity supply.” Under Stream 2 of the IEI program, the OPA has to date awarded seven contracts to industrial companies across the province: ASW Steel, Atlantic Packaging, Detour Gold, Goldcorp, Irving Tissue, Pembroke MDF and Resolute FP.
In a related announcement on September 24, the OPA announced updates to the saveONenergy retrofit program that provide additional financial incentives for Ontario businesses to reduce energy used by lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, refrigeration systems and building plug loads.
Key update and new incentives released under the retrofit program include:
• New prescriptive lighting measures
• New prescriptive incentives for variable frequency drive and variable displacement air compressors
• New engineered worksheets for compressed air systems
• New prescriptive incentives for commercial HVAC system upgrades
• New prescriptive incentives for reducing commercial building plug loads
• New prescriptive incentives for commercial refrigeration systems
• Increased agribusiness incentives.
For details, including terms and conditions, visit www.saveonenergy.ca/business.