Copperhill

June 9, 2011

As microFIT proponents were informed in February 2011, the OPA is offering to extend microFIT conditional offers by up to one year. Pursuant to the Deputy Minister of Energy’s letter of January 28, 2011, regarding conditional offer extensions, the OPA wishes to provide clarification about the domestic content requirements for microFIT projects.

Question:

If I had a Copperhill tracker unit installed, and it blew over in a wind storm, would you replace it under warranty, or would I have an insurance claim?

Answer:

Our tracker will not blow over in the wind. Even with all of the safety features disabled the ATRAX™ tracker will stand up to Ontario wind conditions. I have asked our engineer to calculate the wind speed it would take to blow it over. Although it will level out in high winds, it is not necessary.

Question regarding the validity of the 20 year OPA contract:
Question:    I have read some of your material regarding the solar power and my 1 BIG concern is our governmet. You and others talk about the 20 year contract BUT you as well as the rest of us know that if McGuinty was put out of power tomorrow that a new govt could and would cancel the so called 20 year contrat then what. We as farmers get left holding the bag and a huge dept. This wouldnt be the 1 st time that governments have canceled programs mid stream That is my one big concern

Answer (John Verway, President) Some others, including the banks, felt the same way as you do about government. They had there teams of lawyers look at the contracts in the micro FIT / FIT program to make sure that there interested were covered. After all customers that cannot pay loans goes against their main goal. After a few weeks of investigation, they decided to lend for this program.
Keep in mind that there is a big difference between a program being cancelled and a contract being cancelled.
Finally, the government has no benefit in cancelling the contract because it is being paid by all electricity users in our hydro bills. This leaves two choices 1) pay the program  2) benefit from the program.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.