Ground-mounted solar PV projects in development under the RESOP program that have not yet received a PPA agreement deserve special attention under the FIT Program. Proponents have invested considerable time and capital to advance projects to their current state. The process of evaluating and obtaining interconnection rights, researching suitable sites, securing land control, and initial permitting, zoning, and legal review requires an investment of $100,000 or more per project by the time it is ready for application under the RESOP program. Proponents have invested millions of dollars developing RESOP projects in good faith and should have an economically viable opportunity to complete every legacy project. Specifically, the rules and procedures of the Initialization Period should strive to achieve the following objectives:

 Inclusive - every legacy project should have the opportunity to obtain FIT program contracts in a fair and equitable manner.
 Transparency - Proponents should have complete visibility into the application queue and decision-making process. The OPA should consider using a third party accounting firm to provide oversight and reporting.
 Economic Viability - every Legacy Project FIT contract should be scheduled and priced in a fair manner that is economically viable for the proponent.

LEGACY PROJECT DEFINITION

A Legacy Project should be defined as any RESOP project for which a proponent has completed a CIA application prior to February 23, 2009, including CIA applications that have been referred to an LDC.

PRIORITIZATION OF LEGACY PROJECTS & PROPONENTS:
1. OPA Delivery Schedule - The OPA should first publish a delivery schedule indicating the amount of new generation ground-mounted solar PV it will accept each year. This schedule provides visibility into the OPA plan that is critically important for the industry. The schedule should list for each of the years 2010 - 2015 the number of MW of new generation that will be accepted under the FIT Program, along with the contracted PPA rate for each year.

2. Application Period - Proponents who wish to apply for a FIT program contract with Legacy Projects will be required to apply within the first 60 days of the program
a. Application Requirements - As defined by the FIT program.
b. The OPA should not impose any prohibition on the number of projects for each proponent on a transmission station.
c. Security Payment - we support the OPA requirement for a security payment.
d. Compliance Period - If the OPA determines that an application does not meet the minimum requirements, the Proponent will be notified and given 15 days to modify the application to meet the minimum requirements or be rejected.

3. Application Queue - At the conclusion of the application period, the OPA will publish a list of all Legacy Project applications meeting the minimum requirements. Priority in the queue will be determined by the proponent's CIA application dates. The queue will list a queue position for each project, year of commercial operation date, the project name, size, CIA#, and Proponent.

The CIA applications determine for each proponent the number of projects on the Application Queue, their respective sizes, and their order on the queue, but a queue position is NOT necessarily tied to a specific project. A proponent can exchange an Application Queue position withany project it believes more likely to be successful for the given queue position and commercial operation date through a contracting process to be managed by the OPA.

4. FIT Program Contracting Process - One suggestion for managing the FIT Program Contracting Process is to have a "draft" meeting whereby the OPA will conduct a meeting of all proponents approximately 30 days after publishing the Application Queue and will assign Proponent Legacy Projects to the OPA Delivery Schedule, as follows:

a. The Proponent owning the Legacy Project on the Application Queue will be offered a slot in the OPA Delivery Schedule equal to the size of the Legacy Project.
b. The Proponent may assign any of its Legacy Projects on the Application Queue to fill the slot, regardless of the CIA Application date or position in the queue, or may assign its Queue position to another Proponent, allowing for "trades" between Proponents. The queue position "size" cannot be increased, however it can be decreased at this time.
c. The Proponent must sign the FIT Program Contract for the specified project and commercial operation date at the Draft Meeting (with penalties for missing milestone dates, etc. to be determined).
d. The draft continues with the next Proponent on the Application Queue, until the OPA Delivery Schedule is fulfilled or all Legacy Projects are assigned.

5. The price for large scale ground mount solar would be tested annually and adjusted to provide a reasonable rate of return given the true costs for developing and building projects in any year, as determined by a fair and transparent process, using an industry tested financing model.

6. The OPA will maintain a website for proponents to know the position of the projects on the OPA Delivery Schedule, expected contract award dates, and anticipated tariff price.

The transition from the RESOP program to the FIT program is crucial for many companies that have invested millions in Ontario's renewable program. Recurrent Energy and UPC support the OPA in their efforts to balance the broader policy objectives of the `Green Energy and Green Economy Act' with the impact on Ontario rate-payers. We view a robust ground mounted solar program as crucial to delivering the lasting benefits the Act envisions. We support the OPA's fairness during the process and we are optimistic a solution can be reached that achieves the multiple targets of 1) delivering dependable green energy in an economically responsible manner, 2) simultaneously creating valuable jobs across Ontario, and 3) supporting the birth of a fledgling industry by supporting in a fair and equitable way the proponents that participated in the RESOP program from the beginning.