One of the weightiest documents ever produced in the United States involving solar and wind energy has been published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Tipping the scales at about 1.5 pounds, the report is called "A Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design."
Feed-in tariffs, in which solar electric system owners are paid for producing electricity, "are the most widely used policy in the world for accelerating renewable energy deployment," the report says.
Feed-in tariffs have not yet been widely adopted in the United States, but pressure is mounting to enact them here. Several solar industry trade groups, including California's leading industry association, recently called for widespread use of this form of production incentive, saying it is "long overdue" in this country.
Although the many permutations of feed-in tariffs can be complex, in action they are often simple and easy for consumers to understand. In many of the 44 countries that have adopted various forms of feed-in tariffs for solar and other renewable energy generation, small-scale generators, such as homeowners and small-business owners, have often been included on some of the most generous terms, partly to help ensure public acceptance.
In the United States, rebates and tax credits are much more common types of incentives applied to solar electric systems. Also used in the United States are renewable energy credits or certificates, called RECs, or when applied specifically to solar, SRECs. These credits, as well as many rebates, are related to states' "renewable portfolio standards," which require that utilities obtain certain percentages of their energy mix from renewable resources.
Utilities buy credit for producing renewable electricity from those who own the systems, thereby stimulating the use of solar and other clean-energy technologies.
But feed-in tariffs seem to work better, the NREL report says, "accounting for a greater share of RE (renewable energy) development than either tax incentives or renewable portfolio standard policies. FITs have generated significant RE deployment, helping bring the countries that have implemented them successfully to the forefront of the global RE industry."
Worldwide, feed-in tariffs are estimated to be responsible for about three-fourths of solar photovoltaic development and 45 percent of wind energy deployment.
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