A solar power saga with - at last - a happy ending

Friday, May 6, 2011

It took Dave Fadden of Melbourne a 10-month-long battle to get Hydro One to accept power from his microFIT solar installation. In the end, an appeal to his MPP and the minister saved the day

by MIKE MULHERN

Dave Fadden is hooked up to the grid now, but the Southwest Middlesex resident nearly became the poster boy for everything that could go wrong for someone trying to produce power through Ontario's microFIT program.

In May 2010, Fadden, his wife Liette and their 18-year-old son Riley had the shovel put in the ground for his new house, set on 66 acres near Melbourne. The plan was to have the rear of the house facing south. The roof was reinforced to handle a 10 kW solar array. By September 2010, the house was built and the solar array, with 40 per cent made-in-Ontario content, was ready to plug into the grid. That didn't happen.

Fadden, who had approval for the $55,000 system from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), didn't have the other essential go-ahead from Hydro One. He didn't have an "Offer to Connect" and, without that, the solar panels on Fadden's roof were just absorbing sunlight, they weren't converting it to usable power.

On Oct. 7, 2010, not long after moving into his new home, Fadden completed Hydro One's Micro-Generation Connection Application Form C and submitted it to the utility's Business Customer Centre via email. Then he waited.

Not hearing anything from Hydro One, he resubmitted his application on Nov. 10, 2010. On Nov. 16, 2010, Fadden called Hydro One and was told his application had been received but not processed, that there was a backlog and applications were being processed "in the order in which they were received."

By Dec. 6, 2010, a frustrated Fadden began a series of conversations with Mark Hogans, distribution generation co-ordinator for Hydro One Networks Inc. On Dec. 20, Fadden got an email from Hogans telling him that his application had not yet been completely processed.

Now Fadden was concerned that, if he was not connected before Dec. 31, 2010, he would not be in compliance with 2011 content rules. To meet the 2011 content requirements, he had to have 60 per cent Ontario content and his system, which met 2010 hookup regulations of 40 per cent content, would not comply.

By January 2011, Fadden was aware that, in his case, Hydro One was not in compliance with the Ontario Energy Board Distribution Code Appendix F Process and Technical Requirements for Connecting Embedded Generation Facilities. That regulation stipulates that "the distributor must respond to the generator's application and make an offer to connect the approved generation or provide a refusal  to connect within 15 calendar days."

Based on that finding, Fadden threatened a lawsuit against Hydro One and to file a complaint with the Ontario Energy Board arguing that "Hydro One is in clear violation of the Ontario Energy Board code and it is because of this violation that my Form C application was not processed in a timely manner, thus preventing me from meeting the Dec. 31, 2010, deadline to meet the 40 per cent Ontario content."

When Fadden learned early in 2011 that there was no capacity on his line for Hydro One to add his microFIT project to the system, he asked if they could take a lesser amount, perhaps 8kW.

On Feb. 14, 2011, Fadden got a response from Hogans with the bad news that "the short circuit capacity of your station Appin DS and feeder F1 is zero. A connection at any kW is not possible for microFIT or Net Metering."

By this time, Fadden was communicating with his local MPP, Maria Van Bommel (L - Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) and he had filed an official complaint with the Ontario Energy Board. He now had three concerns.

One, of course, was that he did not have an "Offer to Connect" from Hydro One. Two, he worried that he would not meet 2011 60 per cent Ontario content requirements. And, three, he was concerned that his one-year conditional offer from the OPA would expire March 31, 2011. Van Bommel told Fadden she had forwarded his correspondence to Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid.

On March 4, Fadden received a call from the energy minister's office. He was told that the 40 per cent content requirement was "not an issue" and that he would be getting acknowledgment of that fact from the OPA. Fadden was also notified by Hydro One that they had found capacity on his line.

Hogans told Better Farming at the time that "we've been going through our records trying to find capacity." He said when they found they had expired applications or projects not completed, they moved that capacity to someone else. In this case, it was Fadden.

On March 14, 2011, Hydro One connected Fadden's 10-kW microFIT project to the grid. There was one more technical problem at Fadden's end, a nail through the cable from the combiner box to the inverter causing a ground fault.

With that fixed, Fadden had one more thing to report: "We officially started making power at about 1:30 pm on Friday (March 25).  When I left for work Sunday, the meter was already at 174 kW/h. Multiple that by 80.2 cents = $139.54." BF