Solar rules too restrictive say Ontario's Fruit and Vegetable Growers

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

An organization representing Ontario horticultural farmers is concerned growers won’t be permitted to install roof-mounted solar panels on newly constructed farm buildings so they can generate income producing electricity as part of the province’s Feed-in-Tariff program.

Art Smith, CEO of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, says they’ve written to Premier Dalton McGuinty about their concerns. The matter was discussed at the association’s March board meeting.

Smith says installing the panels would help farmers defray some of the construction costs of their new buildings, such as bunkhouses for seasonal workers.

Jim MacDougall, Ontario Power Authority manager of Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) procurement, says people are welcomed to construct projects and apply for either the FIT or microFIT program. A microFIT project is 10 kilowatts or less while a FIT project is greater than 10 kilowatts.

People applying for rooftop microFIT projects must have a permanent building fully constructed before sending in their application, MacDougall says. “At that stage they would be eligible as a rooftop project for rooftop pricing.”

MacDougall says the building must be constructed before a person can apply for the program. People can’t apply while the building is being constructed or before construction has started.

MacDougall says OPA made a clarification in the rules about rooftop projects because some people were constructing buildings solely to have a roof for solar installations so they can get the higher price. Projects that are part of the rooftop program get higher prices than ground mounted projects.

“From the basis of the structures being built, it did not appear that there would be even any indoor space or that the thing would have any real functional purpose other than to meet a definition for rooftop projects so they can make more money,” he explains.

People reading through the rules may have perceived OPA was trying to restrict the program. But “what we were really trying to do was just avoid people putting up make-shift structures just to earn a lot more money but they (the structures) would never get used for anything.”

OPA doesn’t want to pay people the rooftop rate to build something when the structure doesn’t serve a legitimate purpose. “That is contrary to the goals of the program.”

As part of OPA’s rule clarification, it says the rooftop facility has to be on a permanent existing building, which was designed for use to protect people or property. But MacDougall says there is room for interpretation within the rules and the building supporting the solar installation can be a barn, bunkhouse or facility for value-added production on a farm. It just can’t be a building that has supporting a solar power installation as one of its main purposes. BF