TORONTO - Companies that want to build ground-mounted solar power projects in Ontario have won a small concession from the government.
The Ontario Power Authority angered green energy companies in July by slashing the promised 80.2 cents per kilowatt hour paid for solar power by 27 per cent to 58.8 cents for ground-mounted projects.
However, the OPA has boosted the guaranteed rate to 64.2 cents per kwh for applications received after July 2.
Small, roof-mounted solar projects -- and ground-mounted ones where applications were submitted before July 2 -- will continue to get the 80.2 cents per kwh originally promised by the province.
The OPA says 64.2 cents "strikes the right balance between providing a reasonable rate of return to electricity generators and protecting rate payers from higher than necessary prices."
By comparison, publicly owned Ontario Power Generation gets 3.7 cents a kwh for hydro-generated power and up to 5.5 cents a kwh for nuclear-generated electricity.
The power authority is also changing the rules so that companies that lease land or rooftops from people for solar panels will no longer be allowed to participate in the program for small energy projects.
Almost 19,000 applications have been received for the microFIT program in less than a year, with almost 800 of the smaller projects already feeding energy into Ontario's power grid.
