A new directive by the Ministry of Energy to the Ontario Power Authority will give hope to FIT program applicants in the Bruce and West of London areas. The OPA was instructed on June 3, 2011 to issue contracts for large projects within the Bruce to Milton Transmission project as part of the province’s FIT program. As a result of this directive, over 1,000 MW of renewable energy contacts are to be offered - up to 750 MW in the Bruce transmission area and up to 300 MW in the West of London area.
These new FIT contracts are available to projects already on the FIT Priority Ranking list for the Bruce or West of London transmission areas. The OPA has granted a five business day window for proponents to change connection points (though the project location cannot change). The change of connection window begins on June 6 and closes June 10, 2011 at 5:00 pm.
After the five-day window expires, the OPA will carry out Transmission Availability Tests (“TAT”) and Distribution Availability Tests (“DAT”) for all projects which meet the requirements. Projects which do not receive contract offers will remain on the priority ranking list and the OPA has indicated that it continues to work on the Economic Connection Test.
Updated TAT tables are now available online. Successful contract offers will likely be made in late June 2011. Full details are available on the OPA website.
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