Electricity Feed Laws & Feed-in Tariffs

While not exhaustive, this site contains an extensive collection of articles on Feed-in Tariffs, Advanced Renewable Tariffs, Renewable Energy Payments, and what some Americans are calling CLEAN contracts. Learn more about feed-in tariffs and how they have been successful in Europe, and how they can benefit North Americans.

What are Feed-in Tariffs?

Feed-in tariffs are simply payments per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated by a renewable resource. In North America this simple idea is known by many different names: Electricity Feed Laws, Feed-in Laws, Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), Advanced Renewable Tariffs (ARTs), Renewable Tariffs, Renewable Energy Payments, and more recently CLEAN (for Clean Local Energy Accessible Now) contracts. Regardless of the name, they are the world’s most successful policy mechanism for stimulating the rapid development of renewable energy.

Feed-in tariffs are also the most egalitarian method for determining where, when, and how much renewable generating capacity will be installed. Renewable Tariffs enable homeowners, farmers, cooperatives, and First Nations (Native North Americans) to participate on an equal footing with large commercial developers of renewable energy.

Electricity Feed Laws permit the interconnection of renewable sources of electricity with the electric-utility network and at the same time specify how much the renewable generator is paid for their electricity and over how long a period.

Electricity Feed Laws have been widely used in Europe, most notably in Germany, France, and Spain.

Advanced Renewable Tariffs (ARTs) are the modern version of Electricity Feed Laws. ARTs differ from simpler feed-in tariffs in several important ways. Most importantly, ARTs are differentiated by technology, application, project size, or resource intensity. There is one price for wind energy, another price for solar, and so on. Tariffs within each technology can also be differentiated by project size or, in the case of wind and solar energy, by the productivity of the resource. Tariffs for new projects are also subject to periodic review to determine if the tariffs are sufficiently robust to meet the targets desired in the time allotted.

What are Tariffs?

Tariffs are the price paid per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed, or in this case, generated. The term is commonly used in North America’s electric utility industry. The term is also commonly used in Europe. Tariffs are not taxes nor in this context customs duties on goods crossing international borders.

Comparison of Feed in Tariff, Quota and Auction Mechanisms to Support Wind Power Development

By

Paul Gipe

CMI Working Paper 70 by Lucy Butler and Karsten Neuhoff, University of Cambridge

Answers to common questions about Renewable Energy Tariffs and Bidding (RFPs)

By

Paul Gipe

  Question: An RFP process is more competitive and more efficient – it serves consumers better because it results in …

Could Canadians Pave the Way for Renewable Tariffs in North America?

By

Paul Gipe

Possibly, says American author Paul Gipe

Renewable Energy Tariffs: Has Their Day Come?

By

Paul Gipe

    The following appeared in an edited verson as an op-ed for SolarAccess.com, an on-line service, on August 23, …

Smart Generation: Powering Ontario With Renewable Energy

By

Paul Gipe

The report, authored by leading experts in the field, summarizes the potential of five sources of renewable energy – wind, …

Electricity Feed Laws Power European Renewables

By

Paul Gipe

Unlike tax credits, feed laws don’t lead to the boom and bust cycle common to the North American wind industry