Pricing and Rules are Up in the Air Yesterday, the OPA announced that the official review of Ontario’s FIT and microFIT programs is finally underway. The results of the review may have broad-reaching implications for the solar PV, wind, biomass, micro hydro industries and the overall Cleantech sector. As part of the review process, the OPA has scheduled a teleconference for tomorrow morning, 2 November 2011, at 10 am EDT. The...

Ontario Legislative Building - the Pink Palace is seeing red Just a few weeks ago, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party was a no show at the Ontario Feed-In Tariff Forum. The Party provided a written statement instead of joining their political counterparts at the large gathering of industry executives. This Tuesday, however, the party leader spoke up and it is not good news. According to the Globe and Mail, “Ontario Progressive...

Toronto Wind Icon By Adrienne Baker, Director, Canadian Clean Energy Conferences  A year and a bit into its ambitious feed-in tariff program, Ontario’s renewable energy industries are growing steadily but political uncertainty and grid expansion plans remain top concerns for manufacturers and developers alike. Since the launch of the FIT program in October 2009, several big wind and solar manufacturers have announced plans to set up or...

Game-changing Pillars. The need to stay market focused in technology development and get products quickly into customer hands translates to the Pillar of Process. Market requirements, corporate direction and technology options can all change quickly and must be tightly integrated with the development Process. For a new venture, the ability to predict market conditions is limited at best. Thus, rapid new product and process development...

Fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption The International Energy Agency released its World Energy Outlook 2010 today. The report bluntly observed that in terms of taking on Climate Change, actions taken under the expected scenario made “it all but impossible to achieve the 2° C goal” from the Copenhagen Accord.  The 2° C goal is the non-binding objective established at the December 2009 climate change...