The Canadian province of Ontario is doubling to 930MW the amount of renewable energy it plans to procure this year.
The Independent Electricity System Operator will launch a request for qualifications process by 1 August 2016, the first step in the competitive large renewable procurement phase 2.
Ontario has set targets of 600MW of wind, 250MW of solar photovoltaic, 50MW of hydroelectricity and 30MW of bioenergy.
Ontario selected 16 projects in March for a total 455MW of renewable energy capacity in the LRP 1 programme.
The winners included five wind projects totaling 300MW (the maximum allowed), seven solar contracts for 140MW and four hydroelectric contracts for 15.5MW.
Dozens of developers swamped the call with more than 100 competitive bids, including 25 wind projects totaling 2GW.
The last round of procurement demonstrated wind power is cost effective, said Siemens Canada VP wind power David Hickey.
“Support for the industry is one of the reasons we chose Ontario to be the home of our wind turbine blade manufacturing facility in Tillsonburg, employing approximately 300 people,” said Hickey.
Energy minister Bob Chiarelli said: “By putting emphasis on price and community support, the next phase of renewable energy procurement will save consumers money by putting further downward pressure on electricity prices.”
The LRP program replaced the large feed-in tariff regime and covers renewable energy projects larger than 500kW. It was designed to strike a balance between community engagement and achieving value for ratepayers.
Image: an existing Ontario wind farm (NextEra)
