Top Ten Issues For Developers And Lenders Under The Ontario Power Authority Large Renewable Procurement I Contract

Following our recent blog posting on the release of the Ontario Power Authority ("OPA") Draft LRP I RFP, LRP I Contract and draft Prescribed Forms released on November 17, 2014 here, we continue the tradition of year-end lists to bring our top ten issues under the draft LRP I Contract (the "Contract").

1. Termination for Convenience: The Buyer (being the successor entity to the OPA following its anticipated merger with the IESO effective as of January 1, 2015) has a fully discretionary right to terminate the Contract for convenience that applies both pre-construction and, unlike under the first iteration of the Feed-in Tariff contracts ("FIT ") (which most of our readers are familiar with), post-construction as well. Given the significant amount of local consultation that a Project will need to win a Contract, the small amount of this procurement, and the relatively short system-planning window, it is curious that the OPA requires an arbitrary right to cancel these