microFIT / FIT Announcement
Feb 03-2012
Is the long wait for the stalled FIT / microFIT program to resume operations finally over? Well almost according to some who are familiar with the inner workings of the Ontario Ministry of Energy. Jim MacDougall former FIT manager for the OPA and Jason Chee-Aloy managing director of Power Advisory agree that an announcement with the new rates should be coming in late February, followed by new rules and contracts in March then finally application processing in April or May.
The Minister of Energy is digesting the 2,900 submissions it received from the public and industry for the FIT / microFIT program's two year review and experts feel that there is no real consensus on how the program should evolve. Jim MacDougall is predicting that PV rates now at 80 cents for roofmount micro-fit projects will drop 25% as this reflects the cost of solar PV systems which have dropped by about the same amount in the past year.
The FIT / microFIT program has been very successful from a participation point of view with over 11,000 microFIT projects and 2,500 FIT projects having received contracts. Since the program was suspended for review last October the number of applications in the queue has blossomed. The January 20th report from the OPA shows over 37,000 microfit applications waiting to be processed.
What the actual new rules, rates and program processes will be is really anyone's guess. Past issues with the program such as capacity restrictions may change how applications are process. The previous first come first served mentality could be replaced with applications being processed on capacity merits. As for the rates most would agree that they will come down but how far nobody is really sure.