December 14, 2012 – Ontario is re-launching the small Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program, and Ontario Power Authority (OPA) will begin accepting applications today from proponents of renewable energy projects over 10kW up to 500kW.

The government says recommendations from the FIT Two-Year Review and Land Use Working Group “helped strengthen Ontario’s FIT program to better respond to community needs and to ensure its economic sustainability”, including:

• Clarifying land use rules for ground-mounted solar projects proposed in rural areas.
• Encouraging greater community and Aboriginal participation in small FIT projects by using a new points system. Applications with more community or Aboriginal involvement would receive more points and receive priority over other applications.
• Setting aside megawatts in the small FIT Program for projects with more than 50% community or Aboriginal participation.
• Helping ratepayers by reducing FIT program prices by an average of 20% for solar projects and by about 15% for wind projects.