Feed-in Tarrifs will Catalyze the U.S. Solar Industry

Solar Rebates are a step in the right direction for promoting renewable energy in the U.S.A., however an extensive report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides great insight on how to dramatically catalyze the U.S. Solar Energy industry with Feed-in Tariff policies.

What is a Feed-in Tariff?
It's a a policy designed to encourage the adoption of renewable energy sources. Under a feed-in tariff, an obligation is imposed on regional or national utility companies to buy renewable electricity from qualified sources. This means, that if you have solar panels on your house or business, the utility company can buy it from you at a rate that you can profit from.

Feed-in tariffs are the most widely used renewable energy policy in the world. Germany was the first country to implement a successful Feed-in Tarrif policy with their Renewable Energy Source Act., and to date they are world leaders in renewable energy development.


*Authors Toby Couture, Karlynn Cory, Claire Kreycik, and Emily Williams of the (NREL) produced an extensive report called A Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design. The report provides an in-depth evaluation of world-wide best practices of Feed-in Tariffs policy designs, but it focuses the information on explaining how the US can create successful feed-in Tariff policies. Essentially, a successful feed-in tariff program encourages fast widespread sustainable renewable energy development.

According to NREL:

• Feed-in tariffs are responsible for 75% of all solar PV and 45% of all wind development worldwide.
• Feed-in tariffs have resulted in the deployment of 15,000 MW of solar PV, and 55,000 MW of wind power from 2000 to 2009 in the European Union.
• In comparison, there were some 25,000 MW of wind in the US at the end of 2009 and only 1,250 MW of solar PV.

The NREL has made it easy, American Policy makers just need to read the report and create their own unique policies for their districts. The report explains the strengths and weaknesses of current Feed-in Tarrif designs and provides detailed insight on specific elements of design that U.S. policy makers will need to take into consideration:

• Long-term policy stability
• Payments based on the cost of generation
• Differentiating tariffs by technology, size, location, and resource intensity
• Guaranteed access to the grid
• Eligibility to all end users and project developers, including some utilities
• "Must take" provisions for the electricity generated

For more information on Feed-in Tarrifs you can call a Solar Rebate  expert at: (480) 483-2400