On October 8, 2010, the Ontario Power Authority announced an amendment to its
Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) rules that restricts solar PV capacity
allocation exempt (CAE) projects (generally those with a capacity
between 10 - 500 kW AC) from electing a December 31, 2010 Milestone
Commercial Operation Date. Prior to this amendment, section 6.4 of
the FIT rules permitted generators with solar PV and wind CAE
projects to elect a 2010 (for solar PV) and a 2011 (for wind)
milestone date in order to qualify for the lower domestic content
requirements under the FIT rules, being 50% for solar PV and 25%
for wind. All solar PV projects, including CAE projects, that
submit FIT applications after October 8, 2010 will be required to
meet the 60% domestic content requirements under the FIT rules. The
OPA has stated that this amendment is necessary in light of the
time required to complete the FIT application review, project
development process steps and FIT contract requirements, all of
which is expected to take at least six months.
Wind CAE projects may continue to elect a December 31, 2011
Milestone COD in order to qualify for the 25% domestic content
requirement applicable to such projects.
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