In response to the high volume of comments received during the Draft LRP I RFP and draft LRP I Contract feedback period, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has extended the posting date of the final LRP documents to March 3, 2015.
In the meantime, the IESO has released an update document on the IESO website (found here) (the "Update") which provides Qualified Applicants and interested stakeholders with additional information on some of the proposed changes to the final LRP documents.
Along with the above new release date, the following revised timetable is expected (the final revised timetable will appear at section 2.2 of the LRP I RFP).
All capitalized terms used herein but not defined shall have the meanings ascribed thereto in the LRP documents.
|
Activity / Deadline |
Date |
| Release of final LRP I RFP and final LRP I Contract | March 3, 2015 |
| Qualified Applicant group session | March 24, 2015 |
| Individual Information Sessions (Qualified Applicants only) | March 24, 2015 at 1:00 pm (EPT)April 10, 2015 at 5:00 pm (EPT) |
| Question and Comment Period begins (Qualified Applicants and Registered Proponents) | May 4, 2015 |
| Pre-Registration Deadline | July 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm (EPT) |
| Deadline for Issuing Addenda | July 31, 2015 |
| Registration Deadline | August 7, 2015 at 3:00 pm (EPT) |
| Question and Comment Period ends | August 14, 2015 |
| Proposal Submission Deadline | September 1, 2015 at 3:00 pm (EPT) |
| Evaluation of Proposals | September 2, 2015 – November 2015 |
| Completion of Evaluation and notification of Selected Proponents (target date) | November – December 2015 |
Some of the key changes to the LRP documents that the IESO expects to make to the LRP documents are as follows:
|
Section / Requirement |
Revision |
| Prohibited Communications and Non-Collusion Requirements | To be revised to clarify that (i) partnerships amongst Qualified Applicants will be permitted; and (ii) interactions between Registered Proponents that are Controlled by the same Qualified Applicant will be permitted. |
| Representatives performing community engagement | To be revised to provide clarity on who is permitted to perform community engagement activities on behalf of the Registered Proponent (including the Qualified Applicant that Controls or is Controlled by the Registered Proponent). |
| Common point of municipal contact | All community engagement materials will need to be sent to the clerk of the Municipality in addition to any other contact as designated by the Municipality. |
| Public community meeting requirements | Only one (1) public community meeting will need to be held by Registered Proponents in each Directly Affected Community in relation to their Large Renewable Project (reduced from two (2)). |
| Agricultural land use restrictions | To be revised to specify that a Large Renewable Project that uses Non-Rooftop Solar as its Renewable Fuel must not be sited on Prime Agricultural Areas (as designated on an Approved Official Plan for any tier of Municipality in which such LRP is located). |
| Access Rights – Survey Permit | A Survey Permit issued by Parks Canada will be added as an eligible form of Access Rights for those Large Renewable Projects that are to be sited on federal Crown land. |
| Adjacent landowner agreement | The Prescribed Form – Adjacent
Landowner Agreement will be renamed the Prescribed Form –
Abutting Landowner Support.The new Prescribed Form will recognize
that the landowner is supporting the Large Renewable Project as it
is proposed prior to the submission of a Proposal to the IESO;
should an LRP I Contract be offered, the Registered Proponent will
still need to satisfy any regulatory or other governmental approval
requirements.The threshold for receiving Rated Criteria points for
having Abutting Landowner Support will be reduced to 75% of
Abutting landowners (from 100%). |
| Key Development Milestones – Financial Close | To be revised to modify the concept of Financial Close in the Key Development Milestones to allow for an alternative mechanism to evidence that the Supplier has sufficient financing to complete the Facility. |
| Voluntary Termination | Compensation in the form of the Voluntary Termination Sum will continue to be provided to the Supplier in the event that the IESO exercises Voluntary Termination.The Voluntary Termination clause will be revised. |
The Update also provides that Qualified Applicants will be given an opportunity to identify certain Circuits (listed in the Circuit TAT Table) to the IESO that they wish to receive supplementary information on connection availability. At the conclusion of this process, the IESO will update the Circuit TAT Table with the indicative available capacity for those identified Circuits. The IESO notes that this is meant to provide only a general indication of the electricity system's ability to accommodate new renewable generation projects under the LRP program at the identified Circuit and this is not a confirmation of the available connection capacity at an identified Circuit and this is intended for information purposes only.
The parameters of this connection availability process are set out in the Update and, importantly, Qualified Applicants can submit Circuits between February 9 and February 13, 2015. The IESO will screen submitted Circuits between February 16 and April 15, 2015.
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