Rob Beckers
30th April 2009, 06:18
Those in Ontario may have heard about Bill 150, the Green Energy Act. Amongst other things it promises just over 80 cents per kWh for roof-mounted solar (http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/fit/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=10098). That is on par with what Germany paid at the peak of the solar subsidies over there, and it (quite literally) changed the landscape. Germany became (and still is) the country in the world with the largest installed PV base, and now has a very large RE oriented industry. No doubt it would do the same thing for Ontario.
The proposed feed-in tariffs for Ontario's Bill 150 are as follows:
Roof mounted PV <=10 kW: 80.2 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV 10..100 kW: 71.3 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV 100..500 kW: 63.5 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV >500 kW: 53.9 ct/kWh
Ground mounted PV <=10MW: 44.3 ct/kWh
On-shore wind energy: 13.5 ct/kWh
Off-shore wind energy: 19 ct/kWh
Community based wind energy <=10 MW: 14.4 ct/kWh
There are rates for biomass and hydro power as well.
What jumps out from this is an attempt to separate out small PV from large scale (industrial) PV. That is a good idea. However, limiting the high rate to roof mounted PV only seems misguided to me, and unfortunate. There are many situations where no proper south facing roof area is available. Mounting on a pole, ground mounted rack, or awning are often the only options. Why not allow the 80 cents for all PV smaller than 10 kW?!
By the way, these are meant to be 20 year feed-in contracts. At current PV installation prices the rate of 80 ct/kWh puts economic payback time at just about 10 years. PV prices are falling quite rapidly, so in monetary terms this is an excellent deal!
The wind rates are clearly based on large scale wind turbines. For small scale they are on par with net electricity cost in Ontario, meaning there is no advantage in choosing net metering over the feed-in tariff. It is a pity there is no higher rate to stimulate small wind energy, say 10 kW and under. Leave it to the politicians and they'll get one thing right, and two others wrong.... :frusty:
Bill 150 has not passed yet. However, word is that this should happen before the end of this summer. I hope they are right.
What do you think? Comments? Concerns? Who knows, maybe McGuinty reads Green Power Talk!:nuts:
-RoB-
The proposed feed-in tariffs for Ontario's Bill 150 are as follows:
Roof mounted PV <=10 kW: 80.2 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV 10..100 kW: 71.3 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV 100..500 kW: 63.5 ct/kWh
Roof mounted PV >500 kW: 53.9 ct/kWh
Ground mounted PV <=10MW: 44.3 ct/kWh
On-shore wind energy: 13.5 ct/kWh
Off-shore wind energy: 19 ct/kWh
Community based wind energy <=10 MW: 14.4 ct/kWh
There are rates for biomass and hydro power as well.
What jumps out from this is an attempt to separate out small PV from large scale (industrial) PV. That is a good idea. However, limiting the high rate to roof mounted PV only seems misguided to me, and unfortunate. There are many situations where no proper south facing roof area is available. Mounting on a pole, ground mounted rack, or awning are often the only options. Why not allow the 80 cents for all PV smaller than 10 kW?!
By the way, these are meant to be 20 year feed-in contracts. At current PV installation prices the rate of 80 ct/kWh puts economic payback time at just about 10 years. PV prices are falling quite rapidly, so in monetary terms this is an excellent deal!
The wind rates are clearly based on large scale wind turbines. For small scale they are on par with net electricity cost in Ontario, meaning there is no advantage in choosing net metering over the feed-in tariff. It is a pity there is no higher rate to stimulate small wind energy, say 10 kW and under. Leave it to the politicians and they'll get one thing right, and two others wrong.... :frusty:
Bill 150 has not passed yet. However, word is that this should happen before the end of this summer. I hope they are right.
What do you think? Comments? Concerns? Who knows, maybe McGuinty reads Green Power Talk!:nuts:
-RoB-