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Comments on the Intent of Ontario's Standard Offer Contract Program to Serve Farmers, Co-ops, Communities, and HomeownersOSEA Press Release November 11, 2004 Ontario's Ruling Party Endorses Progressive Renewable Energy Policy--A First in North America Liberal Party Policy Conference Endorsement T2 Renewable Energy . . ."Be it resolved that the Government of Ontario encourage the use of renewable energy by implementing Advanced Renewable Tariffs that will allow distributed solar, small hydro, or wind energy to be established by farmers, co-ops, and locally owned enterprises and to be able to market this energy on the provincial grid."
OSEA's report to the Ministry of Energy May 25, 2005 . . . The pilot program should be inclusive, not exclusive. OSEA's definition of "community" is therefore expansive and includes farmers and rural landowners, community-based organizations, co-operatives, First Nations, NGOs, municipal entities, private individuals, small businesses and combinations thereof. . . Premier Dalton McGuinty Ontario Energy Association Annual General Meeting September 14, 2005 ". . .At the same time, we are encouraging homeowners, farmers, schools and community co-ops to set up renewable energy systems by letting them sell clean power to the grid. The Ontario Power Authority and the Ontario Energy Board will report back to the Minister of Energy with a standard offer approach by the end of the year. Over the long term, it could add thousands of megawatts of renewable power to our system. . ." The Honourable Donna Cansfield, Minister of Energy Ontario Water Power Association Conference Kingston, Ontario November 10, 2005 Through renewable energy we are also opening up opportunities for communities and, moreover, for citizens to participate in our electricity future. . . . . . Soon we'll be making an announcement on a Standard Offer Program. Standard Offer will open up the opportunity for community-based projects to sell power to the grid. The Honourable Donna Cansfield, Minister of Energy 16th National Energy Services Conference San Diego, California February 6, 2006 As we address the future, the McGuinty government will need to make some tough decisions when it comes to ensuring a reliable energy supply in Ontario. This government is profoundly committed to renewable energy-to its long-term sustainability, and to maximizing the opportunities for citizen participation that renewable energy represents. . . . . . We are committed to creating new opportunities for community and individual participation in building our energy future. We are opening up a host of that Ontarians have never seen before. The Honourable Donna Cansfield, Minister of Energy Integrated Solutions To Manure Management III London, Ontario March 9, 2006 It's the first program of its type in the country and Premier Dalton McGuinty says he hopes the plan will see a quarter of a million homes powered by renewable energy within a decade. OSEA Press Release Premier McGuinty and Minister Cansfield jointly announced that Ontario would offer standard contracts to anyone in the province who wanted to generate electricity with renewable energy. The contracts would allow homeowners, farmers, first nations, and cooperatives to connect their wind turbines and solar panels to the provincial electricity system. Paul Shervill, OPA CBC News, Wednesday, March 22, 2006 Since the program was unveiled in March, hundreds of homeowners across Toronto have looked at or committed to installing solar panels in hopes of cashing in on the 42-cent premium - about seven times the going rate. But even with that premium, Shervill warned, homeowners could find participation more costly and cumbersome than expected. He said the program, while it will accommodate homeowners, wasn't designed with such "micro-developers" in mind. "If a homeowner is going into this thinking they're going to make a lot of money, they're probably being misled." He said homeowners have to pay $12,000 to $15,000 for a typical 1-kilowatt solar system that would provide up to 20 per cent of a home's power needs. Paul Shervill Refocus Weekly, International Solar Energy Society, Wednesday, March 29, 2006 But he warned it could be a long process. "There are a number of issues we have to look at. Because this is so new, we're just now identifying the challenges folks are running into." Paul Shervill, vice-president of electricity sector development for the Ontario Power Authority, told the Star last month that the standard offer program wasn't designed with homeowners and other "micro-developers" in mind. "We didn't anticipate that some of the developers would be quite that small," said Shervill, referring to individuals wanting to put solar panels atop their houses. "That said, we're happy to have them and will accommodate them." Those comments came as a surprise to Rob McMonagle, executive director of the solar industries association, who said the power authority was told early on in the program's development to expect 15,000 homeowners in the province to participate, similar to the kind of interest experienced in European programs. Premier Dalton McGuinty Toronto Star, Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Can't get rich selling hydro from home "Standard Offer contracts have been the fastest and most successful way of producing renewable energy throughout the world," says McGuinty. "Encouraging communities to develop more renewable electricity will spur the kind of innovation in the energy sector that will help clean up our air, create jobs and contribute to our long-term prosperity." Paul Shervill Toronto Star: August 11, 2006 Support for small sellers of power planned Shervill says he had developers and medium-sized businesses in mind when he was writing the rules for standard offer contracts - not individual home owners. And yet when Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the price the government would offer for solar power, Shervill's office suddenly started getting calls from interested homeowners. "When it became apparent that even small homeowners might consider putting a one kilowatt solar array on their roof and selling that energy to their local distributor at 42 cents, it was a bit of an eye opener to us... a pleasant one because we were delighted to have them." . . . Paul Shervill says he can't even tell whether the price being offered for solar is a fair one. "There isn't enough solar out there to know what the price is," he says, "so we decided to set it at the 42 cent rate for the first couple of years, and use it as a price discovery mechanism. And a lot of interest was generated. We saw it because after that announcement, we got calls... a lot of them from small developers who were looking at putting solar facilities into small business or even home settings. I admit I was surprised that developers that small, down to individual homeowners, were interested in standard offer, yes." The Honourable Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy News Release Guelph "We're giving Ontarians, whether they be farmers, cooperatives, or small businesses - the opportunity to help strengthen our energy system, reduce our reliance on coal, and clean up our air through Ontario's Standard Offer Program," Duncan said. "I want to congratulate the first successful proponents who will help us increase Ontario's supply of clean renewable energy. . ."
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