Standing Offer Program

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Standing Offer Program Two-Year Review

BC Hydro is undertaking a review of the Standing Offer Program (“SOP Review”) for submission to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) in Spring 2010. The purpose of this review is to examine the results of the Standing Offer Program to date and to identify any improvements that could be made to enhance the effectiveness of the existing program. The SOP Review will address commitments made in the section 45 Application [PDF, 16.2 Mb] to the BCUC for the Standing Offer Program as well as the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA), including but not limited to:

• The need for total or annual volume caps
• The maximum and minimum size of eligible projects
• Other eligibility rules
• The prices to be paid for new projects under the Standing Offer Program

BC Hydro is currently exploring the role of innovative and/or near-commercial projects as a separate initiative apart from the SOP Review. This is intended to respond to the commitment made in the NSA relating to the participation of prototype and near-commercial technologies in the Standing Offer Program. If you are a developer of an innovative or near-commercial project, please contact us for further information.

To inform the SOP Review, we have posted an online questionnaire to obtain some initial input from developers, First Nations and stakeholders on key aspects of the Standing Offer Program.

• Launch SOP Review Questionnaire

Please email us your SOP Review question or join our mailing list to keep up-to-date on the latest Standing Offer Program updates.

Program overview

As directed by the provincial government in its BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership, BC Hydro is implementing a Standing Offer Program to encourage the development of small and clean energy projects throughout British Columbia. The program is a process to purchase energy from small projects with a nameplate capacity greater than 0.05 megawatts but not more than 10 megawatts*.

Through a series of informal stakeholder engagement sessions and written comments, we received extensive feedback from stakeholders about previous calls for power and the design of the Standing Offer Program. As a result, the Program has been designed to:

• Simplify the process, the contract and its administration.
• Decrease the costs of participation for developers while remaining cost-effective for the ratepayer.
• Meet the need identified by the BC Energy Plan and embody its policies and principles.

The Standing Offer Program Rules [PDF, 283 Kb] explain Program details including eligibility requirements, the application process and the Standard Form Electricity Purchase Agreement (EPA) [PDF, 250 Kb] terms.

*Projects with capacity of no more than 0.05 megawatts may be eligible for BC Hydro's Net Metering program. Projects with capacity greater than 10 megawatts may be eligible to participate in the Clean Power Call or the Bioenergy Call for Power .

Information sessions

Subsequent to the launch of the Standing Offer Program on April 11, 2008, BC Hydro held five information sessions in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Cranbrook, Prince George, and Kamloops to review the Program Rules and the application process. These sessions were intended for developers that are ready or are planning to submit an application.

The presentation used for these sessions is available on our Workshops and Presentations page.

Who can apply

To be eligible to apply for the Standing Offer Program, the developer and the project must meet a number of requirements. Find out who can apply for the Standing Offer Program.

How to apply

In addition to the Application Form, the developer must submit several Exhibits. Find out how to apply for the Standing Offer Program.

Application review process

Several steps are required in the review of an application from the time it is received to the EPA offer and acceptance stage. Find out what to expect when submitting a Standing Offer Program application.

Documents

All documents relevant to the Standing Offer Program can be found on the Documents page.

FAQs

For answers to common questions on the Standing Offer Program, we invite you to review our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Inquiries and mailing list

Please email us your question or join our mailing list to keep up-to-date on the latest Standing Offer Program updates.