Specialty Crop and Canada Land Inventory Mapping for the Feed-in Tariff Program

On September 24, 2009, the Ontario government announced the new Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act. In conjunction with the announcement, the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure issued a directive to the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) indicating that the OPA is not to enter into contracts for ground-mounted solar PV projects greater than 100 kilowatts (kW) on lands with:

Canada Land Inventory (CLI) class 1 soils
CLI class 2 soils
Specialty Crop Areas within the meaning of the 2005 Provincial Policy Statement (PPS)

The directive allows the OPA to procure energy from ground-mounted solar PV projects greater than 100 kW located on CLI Class 3 agricultural lands up to a province-wide cap of 500 megawatts (MW). On Class 3 soils, the 500 MW capacity cap has been divided among the four Ontario Realty Corporation Regional Administrative Boundaries (RABA) (PDF).

Information on the Feed-in Tariff Program and how Specialty Crop and CLI mapping is to be used is outlined on the OPA website.

To identify whether land proposed for ground-based solar PV may be eligible under the Feed-in Tariff Program, proponents must confirm the avoidance of Specialty Crop Areas and Classes 1 and 2 soils.

Specialty Crop Areas

Niagara Peninsula Tender Fruit and Grape Area (Purple Area) (MAH) (PDF - 1.02 MB)

Holland Marsh (Purple Area) (MAH) (PDF - 2.91 MB)

Grey County ("Special Agriculture" area) (Grey County) (PDF - 3.76 MB)

CLI Classification

Information on CLI.

For handy reference, the CLI maps have been adapted based on the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure's directive to the OPA. OPA may not enter into FIT contracts for ground-mounted solar PV greater than 100 kW where those facilities are located on Classes 1 and 2 soils and Specialty Crop Areas (white area). Class 3 soils (green area) may be used up to a capped limit. The remaining area, comprised of Classes 4 to 7 soils (beige area) and Unclassified Land (grey area), can be used for ground-mounted solar PV.

The Agricultural Information Atlas is an interactive web mapping site that will allow users to search for specific properties and view the CLI classification.

The Soil Survey Complex Shapefile is also available for download through Land Information Ontario for users with Geographic Information Systems capabilities.

The data used in all three options is the same.

OPA's website provides direction on the use of CLI mapping.