The Government of Ontario passed the Green Energy Act into law on May 14, 2009. The purpose of the act was to make Ontario a global leader in clean, renewable energy and conservation and to create thousands of jobs, economic prosperity, energy security and climate protection.

The Act directed the Ontario Power Authority to establish a Feed-in Tariff for the purchase of electricity generated from renewable sources. The detailed regulations, effective October 1, 2009, offered citizens, organizations, community groups and corporations 20-year contracts at one of the most attractive tariffs in the world, and what is promised to be a streamlined approval process.

This electricity could be generated from solar photovoltaic panels, biogas, biomass, landfill gas, on-shore and off-shore wind, or waterpower, each with a different feed-in tariff designed to cover the costs of the technology involved. The tariffs fall roughly into two sub-programs: FIT (for large-scale developers with installations of over 10kW) and microFIT (for residential and small business installations below 10kW]].

For certain technologies, such as microFIT solar photovoltaic panels, the tariff is relatively high in order to encourage industry expansion. In all cases, Ontario content requirements have been specified in order to encourage the growth of manufacturing in the province.

Non-electric renewable energy (such as commercial and residential solar thermal hot water) and off-grid applications are not covered by this legislation.

An executive summary of the act is presented on the web site of the Green Energy Act Alliance, a lobby group formed to support the implementation of this act. A more detailed Executive Summary in PDF form from them is also available.

• Full text from the web site of the Ontario Legislature or in PDF Form