Community Energy Financing. Assessing Challenges and Opportunities in Ontario.

Abstract

A well-established financing regime is critical to the development and growth of Ontario?s community energy sector. While a number of crucial policy initiatives have been undertaken at both the federal and provincial levels to spur the growth of the sector, these have not yet included any concrete policy steps to aid in accessing financing for the community energy projects. This paper investigates the challenges faced by community energy firms in Ontario in securing financing and seeks to present solutions through an assessment of successful approaches delineated in case studies and international benchmarks.