Subsidies cloud solar landscape
Ontario’s solar energy industry got a boost recently when the provincial government awarded 13 new power-purchase contracts under the provincial Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program.
Taken together, the new projects represent a little more than 148 MW of energy capacity, to be built, financed, owned and operated by SkyPower Ltd., of Toronto.
It’s a piece of good news along the often-bumpy road many governments are travelling in their transition to clean economies. And, looking ahead in Ontario, it seems certain that there are at least as many bumpy stretches ahead as there are smooth patches.
At the heart of the problem lie subsidies and preferential trade practices, both subject to strong opinions for and against. The FIT program is a case in point.
FIT pays subsidies to small and medium companies generating power from alternative sources and selling it to the provincial transmission grid. That could mean anything from a utility-sized facility all the way down to the guy with some rooftop solar panels and a small surplus to sell.
Author: Haining SunSurf New Energy Technology Co., Ltd
website:www.sunsurf.com.cn
main product: solar heater,solar energy
