Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Solar Prices Drop -- Blood Pressure Rises

The Ontario government is changing the price they will pay for solar power -- here's what they have to say....

"To help ensure the program remains sustainable the OPA has proposed a new price category for microFIT ground-mounted solar PV projects. Ground-mounted solar PV
projects of 10 kilowatts or less will be eligible to receive a proposed price of
58.8 cents per kilowatt-hour (¢/kWh). Rooftop solar PV projects, as defined in
the microFIT Rules, version 1.4, will continue to be eligible for 80.2 ¢/kWh.


The proposed new price category will better reflect the lower costs to install a ground-mounted solar PV project versus a rooftop project. It will provide a
price that enables future project owners to recover costs of the projects as
well as earn a reasonable return on their investment over the long term."

The business side of me is actually pretty angry with the move. We are getting ready to file an application - taking the cautious approach. Making sure to comb over a number of deals to make sure when we lock into 20 years -- we don't get the short end of the stick. Now - because we have taken the time to do that (which they encouraged) we are out over 20 cents. After all they said the price wouldn't change until October 2011.

That said - I couldn't figure out how they were going to pay 80 cents to begin with. Although - 58 cents is still too high.

This all makes believing what government says pretty tough to do -- doesn't it....

Views: 1281

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on July 9, 2010 at 3:40pm
A little different than the Pigeon King....the government is the customer and they distribute the electricity to consumers....we will need energy and clean energy - solar makes sense in theory. Because it is so new I think big mistakes can be made...I would rather see the government take a hit for stimulating a new industry with some extra revenue to farmers than have a lot of nice farmers get whacked financially because the Ont Govt thought they were overpaying for clean energy...
Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on July 14, 2010 at 2:34pm
Looks like OFA is going to fight this change in price....


OFA: Government Can't Rewrite the Deal.

By Paul Wettlaufer, Director, Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Faced with a 27 per cent cut in price on a contract with the Ontario Government for the production of green energy, Ontario farmers question the management of the program and the intent of the government on green energy.

When the government announced its plans to promote and use green energy, farmers lined up to produce solar energy. Then, without warning, the government announced changes to the deal already signed.

Government developed a green energy incentive for ground mount solar and quoted a reasonable price, farmers penciled it out and signed up, leading the way in Ontario's green energy revolution.

For reasons that make no sense whatsoever, the government on July 2 announced it was withdrawing its offer and substituting a lower price. Thousands of hours of research, work with banks, work with contractors, is all for naught for approx 11,000 applicants.

The price was right and now its not.

Not only is this a serious blow to farmers who were willing to make this investment but it could be the death knell for the green economy.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture will be lobbying the province to ‘grandfather’ all applications submitted up to July 2 for the original quoted price.

Our members have made significant investments in solar infrastructure based on the deal they thought they had with the province. A 27 per cent cut in the price paid for that energy will mean an unacceptable loss.

Honoring the price offered to the applicants who have already made significant investments can be the only accepted outcome.

This is not only devastating to farmers, it jeopardizes the futures of green energy manufacturers.

Cancelled projects will mean lost investment from farmers and loss of future sales of solar equipment.

With this change Ontario will lose millions of dollars in new manufacturing opportunities; lose hundreds of manufacturing jobs; municipalities will forego

millions of dollars in tax revenue; and once again Ontario’s rural economy suffers a "gut shot".

This has shaken the confidence of rural Ontario and investors everywhere.

What's the next rug that will be pulled out from under us on the green energy file?

The designers of the deal understood the economic benefits and spinoffs in jump starting the green economy. The ones trying to tear it down need to recognize the economic damage.

We will be calling on all OFA members to contact their MPPs. We will seek their support of our plan to grandfather the originally-stated rate into all applications submitted up to July 2, 2010.

Farmers have shown good faith and leadership with their involvement in the green energy industry. Now is not a good time for the government to start rewriting the deals.
Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on July 21, 2010 at 2:05am
Ontario Solar Network is planning a townhall meeting to discuss what can be done about the price changes etc..

Here is the link from the OntAg Events Calendar.

Joe

http://ontag.farms.com/events/ontario-solar-network-to

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

GIFS at USask is striving to be the world’s preferred partner for agriculture and food innovation

At the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), ambition meets action. Across our diverse operations, our team has developed unique capabilities to support impactful research and development. From genomics to biomanufacturing to data analytics and more, our strengths place us among a select group of global institutions equipped to drive innovation at scale. Today, we are the only organization in Canada with the expertise, capabilities, and unique model to enable partnerships with both public- and private-sector organizations from discovery through to delivery, accelerating innovation at every stage. Based in Saskatchewan — the heart of Western Canada and the largest producer of field crops in Canada — we’re strategically positioned to collaborate with global partners and deliver scalable, impactful solutions. “Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for ag and food innovation — not just here, but globally — and we are global. We’re b

Crop Report for the Period October 7 to October 13, 2025

Producers made solid harvest progress on remaining crop acres and got plenty of other field work done last week, before rain and snowfall on the weekend halted operations in many areas. Producers are hoping to get back in the field prior to winter to harvest the few remaining crop acres and finish field work. Provincially, harvest is 98 per cent complete. Most crop is off in the west-central and northeast regions as progress sits at 99 per cent, followed by the southeast and northwest at 98 per cent and the southwest and east-central at 97 per cent. Although most producers have finished harvest, some have a small amount of oilseed, chickpea and canary seed crops remaining in the field. For oilseed crops, canola is 98 per cent harvested, mustard is 95 per cent, flax is 87 per cent and soybeans are 83 per cent harvested. For the other small acreage crops, canary seed is 92 per cent harvested and chickpeas are 88 per cent harvested. All other pulse, spring cereal and winter cereal cro

Grain deliveries by Canada's two major railways strong in Week 10: Ag Transport Coalition

Week 10 saw system performance improve slightly for a fifth consecutive week with CN and CPKC Rail combined supplying 93% of hopper cars ordered, an improvement from the 92% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9. System performance remains above the 90% threshold for the second consecutive week.  That's according to the Ag Transport Coalition. In supplying 96% of cars ordered by shippers in week 10, CN saw performance improve from the 92% order fulfillment performance in week 9.  CN performance has now been above the 90% threshold for two straight weeks having improved performance for five straight weeks.  CPKC saw performance decline slightly, with the railway supplying 91% of cars ordered by shippers, down slightly from the 93% order fulfillment performance seen in week 9.  CPKC remains above the 90% performance threshold for a second straight week.

Wheat and canola ending stocks unchanged over past month: AAFC

Updated supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Oct. 17, included only minor adjustments to the balance sheets for the country’s major grains and oilseeds. Projected 2025/26 ending stocks for wheat and canola were left unchanged from the September report, at 5.2 million and 2.5 million tonnes respectively.  That would compare with wheat ending stocks in 2024/25 of 4.112 million and canola carryout of 1.597 million tonnes. The projected usage numbers for canola were left unchanged, with exports forecast at 7 million tonnes and domestic usage at 12.226 million tonnes.  If realized, exports would be down by 25 per cent from 2024/25, while domestic usage would increase by 4.8 per cent. Projected wheat exports were raised to 27.4 million tonnes, from 27 million in September.  However, that would still be down by 6.2 per cent from 2024/25.  Wheat domestic usage was down by 400,000 tonnes from September, at 8.241 million tonnes.  That compares with 7.96

Alberta harvest all but complete: crop report

Alberta’s crop harvest is virtually complete, but crop quality is a concern as the growing season comes to a close. The province’s agriculture department reported 99.4 per cent of Alberta’s major crops were combined as of Oct. 14, 3.1 points more than in the previous week, compared to the five-year average of 97 per cent and the 10-year average of 83 per cent.  The northwest region’s harvest was 100 per cent complete, while the central region was at 98.9 per cent.  All other regions were within one point of finishing operations. The harvests for all major crops were either completion or less than a point away from completion, except for canola at 98.5 per cent. Despite recent rain and snowfall in some areas, the added moisture wasn’t enough to improve fall-seeded crop quality province-wide. 

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service