Final recommendations report on large renewable procurement process
Development of the Large Renewable Procurement
On February 28, 2014, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) submitted a report to the Minister of Energy that included the OPA’s final recommendations on the development of a new process to procure large renewable energy projects. See the LRP Final Recommendations Report.
The report builds on the OPA’s interim recommendations, provided to the Minister on August 30, 2013, and summarizes the results of the OPA’s additional work on the Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) program. A major component of this additional work was reviewing and incorporating the feedback received from the intensive community engagement activities from December 2013 to February 2014. These activities included two webinars and over 35 meetings with municipalities, First Nation and Métis communities, local distribution companies, industry and other stakeholders, and the general public.
The recommendations report is currently with the Minister of Energy for review and consideration.
The LRP program will include an initial Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process to qualify applicants, followed by a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to evaluate projects proposed by the qualified applicants. The OPA is proposing two procurements, commencing in 2014 and 2015, with the possibility of a third procurement in 2016 should any procurement capacity remain. Details of the procurement targets are included in the OPA’s recommendations report. Each procurement is expected to take between 12 and 16 months to complete.
The OPA had been asked by the Minister of Energy on June 12, 2013, to commence the development of a new LRP process. The updated Long-Term Energy Plan: Achieving Balance, released on December 2, 2013, included further guidance on the LRP and was followed up by a Minister’s direction to the OPA onDecember 16. The direction instructed the OPA to, among other things, conduct further outreach with municipalities, Aboriginal communities, stakeholders and the general public, and report back with final LRP recommendations by March 1, 2014. The OPA was also instructed to plan to post the draft RFQ document for comment by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
Next steps
The OPA is working toward posting the draft RFQ by the end of March 2014. In preparation, the OPA plans to post an LRP-specific transmission availability table to identify specific circuits and transmission stations in the province where capacity for potential LRP projects may be available. The OPA will notify stakeholders once the table has been posted. The OPA plans to host an additional webinar at a later date to discuss the available LRP capacity and to answer questions.
Feedback and questions on the LRP can be provided at any time to LRP@powerauthority.on.ca.
Regional Session Archives
The Ontario Power Authority hosted four regional community meetings, in January and February 2014, to receive feedback and input on the LRP interim recommendations report and the development of the new large renewable energy competitive procurement.
The following materials were presented or available at each meeting.
- LRP Regional Session Meeting Dates (870 KB pdf )
- LRP Regional Community Meeting Presentation (870 KB pdf )
- Preliminary RFQ Evaluation Criteria Summary (415 KB pdf )
- Informational Display Boards (7.3 MB pdf )
- Discussion Guide (450 KB pdf )
- Transmission Stations by Area (508 KB pdf )
- Circuits by Area (372 KB pdf )
- Preliminary Connection Availability (363 KB pdf )
- Rollout Timeline (314 KB pdf )
Webinar Archives
- January 22, 2014
Listen to the archived session View the session presentation - December 17, 2013 – Review of the interim recommendations report and discussion of next steps in the engagement and procurement design processes.
Listen to the archived session View the session presentation - August 7, 2013 – Discussion of the development of the new procurement process.
Listen to the archived session View the session presentation
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