Solar Power for the Rich?

I'm pretty sure the "richest" anything is beyond my means. Richest is how I once heard the green energy act FIT system described in a U.S. publication -more specifically, the "richest incentive" program for green energy of any jurisdiction including Germany.

So OPA's announcement that they are reducing the FIT rate of ground mounted solar energy installations was somewhat comforting. I do feel bad for the 11,000 applicants that are affected by this 27% reduction. So this begs the question - what were they thinking??? I realize they have an objective of taking coal power off-line by 2012 - but at any cost?

What do you think?

I've enjoyed a brief blogging hiatus, now I'm back and ready to jump into some meaty topics starting with the OPA's microFIT program announcement of a new price category for ground mounted solar projects of $.588/kWh.

The OPA received over 16,000 applications under the first version of the program which categorized roof and solar mounted projects together proposing $.802/kWh.

It seems like a damned if you do damned if you don't situation with overwhelming application response potentially resulting in expensive power for the next 20 years.

I'm glad to see the OPA reposition the program before they get any deeper, but I'll bet the solar industry in Ontario is hopping mad - too bad we couldn't harness that energy to heat and light a few farms. What do you think?