The Independent Electricity System Operator released details June 26 of fifteen recently concluded combined heat and power (CHP) contracts, totaling 91.95 MW, under its CHPSOP 2.0 program. Taken together these contracts represent the largest procurement of small scale CHP to date in Ontario if not in Canada. Jake Brooks, Executive Director of APPrO, said, “This is an important milestone for many in the industry who have been working on getting approval for a number of small scale CHP projects.”
A media conference was held June 23 in the offices of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation, with the IESO, Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli and local greenhouse growers Cervini Farms, C.L. Solutions, Brunato Farms and Amco Farms, to showcase two electricity programs in which they are participating – the Combined Heat and Power Standard Offer Program (CHPSOP) and the Industrial Electricity Incentive (IEI) program.
“Ontario’s greenhouse operators are an essential part of Ontario’s economy. The IESO programs we are highlighting today will reduce electricity costs and allow successful proponents to expand production to meet growing demand. Making programs like these available to greenhouse operators is a key commitment made in Achieving Balance, Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan,” said Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Energy.
“IESO programs offer a great opportunity for industries, including agricultural operations, to efficiently generate electricity, expand operations in Ontario and reduce their electricity costs,” said Bruce Campbell, President and CEO of the IESO.
The CHPSOP program focuses on the development of new generation capacity, whereas the IEI program focuses on providing rebates on certain costs associated with eligible incremental electricity consumption to industrial loads that commit to building a new eligible facility or expanding an existing eligible facility. The IEI program has expanded to include additional energy-intensive sectors, such as greenhouses, nursery and floriculture production, refrigerated warehousing and data processing. Mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction and manufacturing companies continued to be eligible under the program. IEI program participants receive a rebate on eligible incremental electricity consumption. To date, the IESO has awarded 22 contracts to industrial companies across the province through the program, including 15 contracts in 2015. More information on the IEI program is available at www.powerauthority.on.ca/iei.
It has taken many years for the CHPSOP procurement to reach fruition. Aside from 7 contracts completed in earlier phases of the program, the current group of projects are the first contracts to be completed under CHPSOP since it was officially announced in June 2007 as the Clean Energy Standard Offer Program (CESOP). It was originally mandated with a letter to the Ontario Power Authority from the Minister of Energy on August 18, 2005. A range of CHP projects have been contracted by the OPA in recent years, but the standard offer program for CHP experienced a number of delays.
See also "London District Energy expanding " and "CHP planned for Neven greenhouse ," in this issue.