Before the solar fever took hold, Bert Rammelaere caused some local rubbernecking in 2008 when he built a solar photovoltaic (PV) tracking system on his farm north of Tilbury in southwestern Ontario. Since then, the gawking has only increased.
Rammelaere's system produced 18,000 kilowatts last year. "I thought I'd try something different," he says. "Lots of things I try and at 42 cents a kW, it paid better than a lot of things."
Thanks to the Ontario's new green-energy legislation, that rate jumped to 80.2 cents. Like other existing solar projects, Rammelaere's panels were grandfathered into the new rates, making his venture even more financially sound.
"Since the rates went up to 80 cents (per kW), I've had probably 500 people stop by or call to ask questions about it," says Rammeaere. "The interest has been unbelievable."
It began with Bill 150, Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act. More precisely, it started with the news that under the bill, the province would essentially guarantee
an eye-popping 80 cents per kilowatt hour for farm-sized solar projects — for 20 years.
That’s 10 times more than the province currently pays for electricity from its network of hydro, nuclear, coal and natural gas generating stations. And — did I mention this already? — it’s for 20 years.
Equally impressive, however, is the sophistication of the business analyses that farmers are using to evaluate return on investment for solar projects.
The cornerstone of the Ontario legislation is its focus on using feed-in tariffs to encourage farmers, home owners, co-operatives and First Nations to invest in renewable energy. These tariffs are the prices that such groups will get for electricity that they pump into the Ontario network.
On its own, the feed-in tariff structure isn’t unique. More than 20 countries in the world use a similar approach, including world-leading Germany, and soon to include California. The Ontario legislation, however, is more aggressive than anywhere else, and is being carefully watched around the globe.
In rural Ontario, the guaranteed-by-the-government, 20-year contract with an estimated 11 per cent return on investment has got farmers’ hearts all a flutter. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture worked with Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to help them understand and encourage the on-farm applications. It worked. OPA started accepting applications on-line in October and by May had more than 10,000 applications.
“The farming community has always been innovative and enterprising and often on the margins of success,” says Ben Chin, vice-president of communications for OPA. “We’re seeing a tremendous take up of this program by farmers.”
As of May 1, about 3,200 conditional contracts had been issued by OPA for the purchase of renewable power generated from wind, water, biogas and biomass systems — and from the sun. The standard contracts set a fixed price for
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