On July 14, 2014, the Ontario Power Authority (the “OPA”) released final materials for the first request for qualifications (“RFQ”) phase of the Large Renewable Procurement (the “LRP”) process, a new competitive procurement process in Ontario for renewable energy projects generally greater than 500 kW. The OPA intends to use the RFQ phase to qualify applicants for a potential future request for proposal (“RFP”) phase involving up to 565 MW of certain specified procurement targets (300 MW for wind, 140 MW for solar, 75 MW for waterpower, and 50 MW for bioenergy).

As noted in earlier blog postings here and here, the LRP originates from an Ontario Ministry of Energy directive, issued on June 12, 2013, which instructed the OPA to develop a new competitive procurement process for large renewable energy projects in Ontario. Following sustained community and stakeholder consultations, the OPA released a Final Recommendations Report for the LRP process on February 28, 2014. The RFQ phase is designed to ensure that applicants and their respective project teams possess sufficient energy development experience and financial capacity to minimize any risks that projects will fail to reach commercial operation. The OPA will be tasked with assessing submissions based on completeness and on specific mandatory requirements. Please see the attached charts for a summary of the assessment criteria in respect of the RFQ phase as well as the proposed LRP timetable.

Click here to view the table.

RFQ applicants are required to submit information regarding past project development experience, team members’ development experience, audited financial statements, officer’s certificates and commitment letters, among other information.

RFQ applicants are also required to adhere to certain non-collusion requirements. Specifically, RFQ applicants must:

  • not coordinate their submissions with any other RFQ applicants;
  • keep their submissions confidential until the conclusion of the RFQ and selection of the qualified applicants, if any;
  • ensure that no member of the RFQ applicant team has entered into any agreement or arrangement with any member of another RFQ applicant team which may affect their respective submissions; and
  • not engage in any activity or communication that results in a conflict of interest, collusion or a violation of the any of the civil or criminal provisions of the Competition Act (Canada).

The OPA has facilitated a question and comments period on the RFQ phase until August 8, 2014. The final qualification submission deadline is set for September 4, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. EPT.

Click here to view the table.