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.
Fire Engine Water Supply Auction System
By
Karl-friedrich Lenz
Once they reach the fire, they will pump water on that fire to put it out as fast as possible. There will not be an auction set up where water suppliers can enter bids and the cheapest supplier gets to deliver the water.
Auctions Became “World Standard” While You Were Not Looking
By
Auctions Became “world Standard” While You Were Not Looking
I am not sure if this will help reduce costs. But judging from the German experience, it will be a great way to slow down the speed of increasing the renewable percentage. That’s because any auction system is not market based. You can win only auctions that are held in the first place, so the state gets to decide on how much new capacity is introduced, not the market.
The Shift from Feed-in Tariffs to Tenders is Hindering the Transformation of the Global Energy Supply to Renewable Energy
By
Hans – Josef Fell
More and more national governments are transitioning from successful fixed feed-in tariff models to tendering schemes as the means of promoting renewable energies (RE). Yet the disadvantages of tenders, which operate like instruments of a planned economy, are varied, significant, and long known.
Time for Fossil Fuel Feed-in Tariffs
By
Karl-friedrich Lenz
If you want to help coal miners and coal companies, you need to introduce a feed-in tariff for coal. Just like a feed-in tariff helped phase in renewable energy (mostly paid for by Germany back when solar was expensive), now a feed-in tariff is needed to phase out coal in a orderly and responsible way.
International experiences with tender procedures for renewable energy – A comparison of current developments in Brazil, France, Italy and South Africa
By
Benjamin Bayer Dominik Schäuble Michele Ferrari
Data on project status shows that rates of on-schedule completion are well below 100% ranging between 14% in Brazil and 41% in South Africa (wind). However, final rates of completion of 100% are possible (South Africa).
Wind energy companies in Indiana are attempting to mitigate the deaths of bats during migration season by slowing or stopping their turbines at night.
By
Stefan Gsänger
The renewable energy community has been challenged by a trend towards ‘competitive’ auctions for renewable power generation. The term in itself is misleading as it implies that auctions automatically lead to more competition, and that other instruments like feed-in tariffs lack competition. Both are untrue.
