September 1, 2008
Of the 1,500 MW of Standard Offer Contracts awarded 50% of the wind contracts were granted to commercial wind developers, and 80% of the solar PV contracts were awarded to central-station plants.
Only 53 MW of contracts have been executed and the projects put into operation.
It is noteworthy that there is nearly 500 MW of solar PV under contract. Effectively all are central-station plants. No plants have yet been built.
On November 19, 2007 at CanSIA’s Toronto conference, Kerry Adler presented SkyPower’s position on solar PV in Ontario. Adler, SkyPower’s CEO, spoke to a standing-room only audience and told them the province must raise solar PV tariffs for solar to become successful. This was a surprisingly candid statement considering that SkyPower has 28 MW of central-station solar PV under contract.
Adler also called on the province to open up the Standard Offer Contract Program to projects greater than 10 MW. SkyPower, like Opti-Solar and Pod Generating, have contracted several 10 MW projects in the same locale to meet the 10 MW project size limit.
In a response to a question, Adler again surpised his audience by saying that he expects only 25% of the solar PV projects currently contracted will ever be built.
