b'CLEAN ENERGY PARTNERSHIPSSecuritypayments,whichwereparticipating, with two of the proj- required at several points in theects involving joint partnerships with process, were set lower for projectssix remote First Nation communities. controlled by an Indigenous commu- The six remote Indigenous communi-nityto recognize the barriers thatties rely solely on diesel generation communities face to access financing,and had planned to use the revenue especially in a highly regulated andto build clean energy systems in high-entrance-cost industry. their communities.In addition to receiving the stan- As the first Large Renewable Procurementdard Feed-In-Tariff price, Indigenousprogram in Ontario, those are excel-projects received a better price perlent results, but this success was largely kilowatt-hour proportionate to thedue to various iterations and progress amount of equity ownership by themade within the Feed-In-Tariff program. Indigenous community. An immense amount of progress was due to additional provincial programsn each procurement, a certain numberthat enabled Indigenous communi-Iof megawatts were set aside for proj- ties to build capacity, supporting this ects with greater than 50 per centgrowth by covering costs for partner-Indigenous ownership. ships and project development. These programs include funding for Indigenous Priority points were assigned tocommunities to: projects that received a support resolu-tion from the neighbouring IndigenousEstablish community energy planscommunityoranIndigenousthrough an assessment of options community host. and engagement with their members. An extension was given to the mile- Support costs in relation to legal stone date for operation of projects onand financial requirements to enter First Nation land due to the inability ofinto partnerships.First Nations to lease land to potential proponents without approval of the federal government. The Large Renewable Procurement program was introduced in 2013 as a competitive procurement process for projects greater than 500 kilowatts. The program retained many of the similar provisions as the Feed-In-Tariff program. It also included mandatory require-ments for proponents to engage with local communities and gave priority to proponents who demonstrated commu-nity engagement over and above the mandatory requirements, such as a Band Council Resolution or proof of Indigenous equity participation.At the completion of the first roundof Large Renewable Procurement, 16 contracts were offered equal to 454 megawatts. Thirteen of those proj-ects had a First Nation partner. Five of them had more than 50 per cent equity participation. successfulprojectsatthe The completion of the Large Renewable Procurementprogramsaw15 unique Indigenous communities Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT33'