Ontario Power Authority To Sell Environmental Attributes

Late last week, after a very limited, informal consultation, the Ontario Minister of Energy directed the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to initiate a pilot program to sell a limited number of the environmental attributes (EAs) it has accumulated under its power purchase agreements with Ontario-based electricity generators. Under many of these agreements, the OPA takes the right, title and interest to all the environmental benefits associated with the generation, subject to certain exemptions. The definition of EAs is broad, and the term could include, for example, the benefits associated with reductions in greenhouse gas or other emissions where a renewable energy supplier had displaced fossil-fired generation.