Office of Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.
- first real FIT in North America.
.
.
from April 2009 on the German FIT by G. Stryi-Hipp.
gives an excellent overview on European FITs and American models and makes a good case for community owned projects.
Hermann Scheer
speech in May 2009
KEMA's
report "California Feed-In Tariff Design and Policy Options"
Exploring Feed-In Tariffs for California, Final Consultant ReportCalifornia PUC
workshops on FIT (incl. video)
California FIT extension to 20MW,
workshop Feb 10,08 information
The Intermittency Report
An Assessment of the Evidence on the costs and impacts of intermittent generation on the British electricity network.
Chris Mentzel's
position on FIT as delivered to the PUC
Life of the Land
position paper on FIT
FIT bill
LD1450 for Maine
Nanosolar CEO on
FITTalk by Eric Kvam (about 40 min into the video).
Click on 8-31-08 Video at
HVCA site.
Hermann Scheer
article, 86 minute
videoWikipedia on
feed in tariffDarren Kimura, Sopogy on
utility support for clean energyAn interesting
idea from Kauai
The shoot-yourself-in-the-foot law
§269-27.2: Utilization of electricity generated from nonfossil fuels - (c) creates problems for FITs by possibly
limiting FITs to less than avoided cost.
Hawaii FIT Bill
Here is an example FIT bill for Hawaii, as written by Eric Kvam.
Report Title:
Feed-in Tariff; Renewable Electricity
Description:
Establishes a feed-in tariff for electricity generated from renewable energy sources by a renewable electricity producer
THE SENATE
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
S.B. NO.
STATE OF HAWAII
--------------------------------------------
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION
1. The legislature finds that Hawaii’s dependence on imported
petroleum for about seventy-eight per cent of its electric power needs
is more than any other state in the nation. This dependence makes the
State extremely vulnerable to any oil embargo, supply disruption, or
other market dysfunction beyond the control of the State. Furthermore,
Hawaii’s continued consumption of imported petroleum and coal for
electric power production negatively impacts Hawaii’s environment.
The
legislature also finds that Hawaii’s utility-supplied electricity
generated from imported petroleum and coal now costs more than
electricity generated from commercial forms of renewable electricity
generation, such as geothermal, wind, biomass, concentrating solar
power and photovoltaic solar power.
The legislature also finds
that increased use of Hawaii’s abundant renewable energy sources to
generate electricity would decrease Hawaii’s cost of energy, increase
Hawaii’s energy self-sufficiency and achieve broad societal benefits,
including increased energy security, diminished vulnerability to oil
price increases, enhanced sustainability, economic development and job
creation.
Over the years, the legislature has worked steadily to
encourage the development of electricity generated from renewable
energy sources in Hawaii. Legislative achievements relating to
renewable electricity include, but are not limited to, a net metering
program, a renewable energy technology income tax credit and a
statewide renewable energy portfolio standard.
The legislature
also finds that, notwithstanding its efforts, renewable electricity
generation in Hawaii remains underdeveloped because existing incentives
do not align the business interests of the electric utilities with
rapid development of large-scale renewable electricity generation at
low cost to the public.
The legislature also finds that a
feed-in tariff has proven effective, in nations such as Germany and
Spain, in achieving rapid development of large-scale renewable
electricity generation at low-cost to the public and in aligning the
business interests of the electric utilities with such development,
while maintaining the utilities’ control over the physical
interconnection of such generation with the utilities’ electric systems
to assure the continued safety and reliability of the utilities’
electric systems.
The purpose of this act is to encourage the
development of renewable electricity generation in Hawaii, to secure,
diversify and reduce the cost of Hawaii’s energy sources, to encourage
improved efficiency of renewable electricity generation technologies,
to reduce the potential for conflicts over imported fossil fuels, and
to protect Hawaii’s environment by establishment of a feed-in tariff
that obliges the utility, as distributor and seller of electric power
to the public, to purchase renewable electricity from a renewable
electricity producer at a statutorily specified long-term tariff rate
that provides an attractive return to the renewable electricity
producer on the renewable energy producer’s investment in a renewable
electricity system.
SECTION 2. Chapter 269, Hawaii Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately
designated and to read as follows:
Ҥ269- Feed-in Tariff. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Renewable electricity" means electricity produced by a renewable electricity system from a renewable energy source;
(2) “Renewable energy source” means each of the following sources of energy:
(A) biomass
(B) biogas
(C) geothermal energy
(D) landfill gas
(E) sewage treatment plant gas
(F) hydropower
(G) solar radiation
(H) wind;
(3)
"Renewable electricity system” means any identifiable facility, plant,
installation, project, equipment, apparatus, or the like, located in
the State of Hawaii, that converts a renewable energy source to
electricity;
(4) “Electrical capacity” means the [installed]
peak nameplate alternating-current electricity generating capacity of a
renewable electricity system;
(5) “Biomass” means plant material, vegetation, or agricultural waste used as a fuel or energy source;
(6) “Hydropower” means the energy of moving water, including wave energy and tidal energy;
(7) “Wind electricity system” means a renewable electricity system that converts wind to electricity;
(8)
“Offshore wind electricity system” means a renewable electricity system
that is located at least [3] nautical miles seawards from the ocean
shoreline [or in an ocean water depth of at least [20] meters];
(9)
“Photovoltaic electricity system” means a renewable electricity system
that uses the photovoltaic effect to convert solar radiation to
electricity;
(10) “Building-mounted photovoltaic electricity
system” means a photovoltaic electricity system that is attached to or
integrated into the roof or walls of a building;
(11) “Building”
means a roofed building structure that can be independently used and
entered by humans and is suitable for or designed for the purpose of
protecting humans, animals or objects;
(12) “Concentrating
solar electricity system” means a renewable electricity system that
converts solar radiation to electricity by concentrating solar
radiation to heat a working fluid which drives a turbine;
(13)
"New renewable electricity system” means a renewable electricity system
placed in service after the effective date of this section;
(14)
"Renewable electricity producer” means any person that owns, controls,
operates, manages, or uses a renewable electricity system to produce
renewable electricity;
(15) “Electric utility” means a public
utility as defined under section 269-1, for the production, conveyance,
transmission, delivery, or furnishing of power; and
(16)
“Renewable electricity purchase agreement” means a contract or tariff
under which the electric utility is obliged to purchase renewable
electricity produced by a new renewable electricity system and
delivered to the electric utility by the renewable electricity
producer, and is obliged to compensate the renewable electricity
producer for such renewable electricity in accordance with the
provisions of this section.
(b) At the request of a renewable
electricity producer that places a new renewable electricity system in
service, an electric utility shall be obliged to interconnect the new
renewable electricity system to the electric system of the electric
utility. The obligation under this subsection shall apply to the
electric utility whose electric system is closest in proximity to the
location of the renewable electricity system, provided that technical
requirements set forth in rules of the electric utility relating to
interconnection of distributed generating facilities with the electric
utility’s electric system, as approved by the commission, are met.
Costs incurred by the electric utility to meet technical requirements
of interconnection shall be allocated so that those costs that benefit
a renewable electricity system are borne by the renewable electricity
producer that uses the renewable electricity system to produce
renewable electricity, in conformity with orders of the commission
relating to distributed generation in the State. Each of the electric
utility and the renewable electricity producer shall disclose to the
other, within 6 weeks of a request by the other, any and all utility
electric system data or renewable electricity system data necessary to
plan and execute such interconnection in conformity with such technical
requirements.
(c) Each electric utility shall develop a
standard renewable electricity purchase agreement, the form of which
shall be approved by the commission, and shall offer such renewable
electricity purchase agreement to any renewable electricity producer
that requests interconnection of a new renewable electricity system to
the utility’s electric system under subsection (b) of this section.
Each such renewable electricity purchase agreement shall have a term of
20 years commencing with the date on which the new renewable
electricity system is placed in service, except that a renewable
electricity purchase agreement providing for the purchase of renewable
electricity produced from hydropower shall have a term of 30 years.
Each such renewable electricity purchase agreement shall oblige the
utility to take and transmit all renewable electricity produced by the
new renewable electricity system and delivered to the electric utility,
and shall oblige the electric utility to purchase and pay for such
renewable electricity at the feed-in tariff rate of compensation set
forth in this section. The electric utility shall compensate the
renewable electricity producer for such renewable electricity in an
amount no less than the number of kilowatt-hours of such renewable
electricity multiplied by such rate of compensation. The electric
utility and a renewable electricity producer may agree by contract to
modify the utility’s obligations to take and transmit, and to purchase
and pay for, such renewable electricity if doing so facilitates
integration of the renewable electricity system with the utility’s
electric system.
(d) The electric utility shall be allowed to
recover, upon application by the electric utility for and approval by
the commission of an interim increase in rates until the effective date
of any rate change approved by final decision of the commission in the
electric utility’s next general rate proceeding under section 269-16,
the cost of renewable electricity purchased under any renewable
electricity purchase agreement.
(e) (1) The following
compensation shall be paid by the electric utility to the renewable
electricity producer for renewable electricity produced exclusively
from biomass or biogas:
(A) At least [17.18] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity less than or
equal to 150 kilowatts;
(B) At least [13.51] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity greater than
150 kilowatts and less than or equal to 500 kilowatts;
(C) At
least [12.18] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system with an
electrical capacity greater than 500 kilowatts and less than or equal
to 5 megawatts;
(D) At least [11.45] cents per kilowatt-hour
in the case of renewable electricity produced by a renewable
electricity system with an electrical capacity greater than 5 megawatts
and less than or equal to 20 megawatts.
(2) The rates of
compensation set forth in subparagraphs (A), (B) and (C) of paragraph 1
of this subsection shall be increased by [5.28] cents per kilowatt-hour
in the case of renewable electricity produced by a renewable
electricity system that does not burn wood to produce renewable
electricity.
(3) As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of
compensation specified in paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be
reduced by 1.5 percent for a new renewable electricity system placed in
service during 2012, and shall be reduced by an additional 1.5 percent
of such rates of compensation as of January 1 of each successive
calendar year with respect to a new renewable electricity system placed
in service during such calendar year. Such reduced rates of
compensation shall be rounded to the second decimal place of cents per
kilowatt-hour.
(f) (1) The following compensation shall be
paid by the electric utility to the renewable electricity producer for
renewable electricity produced from geothermal energy:
(A) At
least [23.49] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system with an
electrical capacity less than or equal to 10 megawatts;
(B)
At least [15.41] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system with an
electrical capacity greater than 10 megawatts.
(2) As of
January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of compensation specified in
paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be reduced by 1 percent for a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during 2012, and shall
be reduced by an additional 1 percent of such rates of compensation as
of January 1 of each successive calendar year with respect to a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during such calendar
year. Such reduced rates of compensation shall be rounded to the
second decimal place of cents per kilowatt-hour.
(g) (1) The
following compensation shall be paid by the electric utility to the
renewable electricity producer for renewable electricity produced from
landfill gas or sewage treatment plant gas:
(A) At least
[13.21] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity
produced by a renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity
less than or equal to 500 kilowatts;
(B) At least [9.10]
cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced
by a renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity greater
than 500 kilowatts and less than or equal to 5 megawatts.
(2)
As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of compensation specified in
paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be reduced by 1.5 percent for a
new renewable electricity system placed in service during 2012, and
shall be reduced by an additional 1.5 percent of such rates of
compensation as of January 1 of each successive calendar year with
respect to a new renewable electricity system placed in service during
such calendar year. Such reduced rates of compensation shall be
rounded to the second decimal place of cents per kilowatt-hour.
(h)
(1) The following compensation shall be paid by the electric utility
to the renewable electricity producer for renewable electricity
produced from hydropower:
(A) At least [18.60] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity less than or
equal to 500 kilowatts;
(B) At least [12.70] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity greater than
500 kilowatts and less than or equal to 2 megawatts;
(C) At
least [11.23] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system with an
electrical capacity greater than 2 megawatts and less than or equal to
5 megawatts;
(D) At least [8.62] cents per kilowatt-hour in
the case of renewable electricity produced by a renewable electricity
system with an electrical capacity greater than 5 megawatts and less
than or equal to 10 megawatts;
(E) At least [7.93] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity greater than
10 megawatts and less than or equal to 20 megawatts;
(F) At
least [5.86] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system with an
electrical capacity greater than 20 megawatts and less than or equal to
50 megawatts;
(G) At least [4.70] cents per kilowatt-hour in
the case of renewable electricity produced by a renewable electricity
system with an electrical capacity greater than 50 megawatts.
(2)
As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of compensation specified in
paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be reduced by 1 percent for a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during 2012, and shall
be reduced by an additional 1 percent of such rates of compensation as
of January 1 of each successive calendar year with respect to a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during such calendar
year. Such reduced rates of compensation shall be rounded to the
second decimal place of cents per kilowatt-hour.
(i) (1) The
following compensation shall be paid by the electric utility to the
renewable electricity producer for renewable electricity produced by a
photovoltaic electricity system:
(A) At least [46.83] cents
per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
photovoltaic electricity system that is not a building-mounted
photovoltaic electricity system;
(B) At least [63.14] cents
per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
building-mounted photovoltaic electricity system with an electrical
capacity less than or equal to 30 kilowatts;
(C) At least
[60.06] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity
produced by a building-mounted photovoltaic electricity system with an
electrical capacity greater than 30 kilowatts and less than or equal to
100 kilowatts;
(D) At least [58.10] cents per kilowatt-hour
in the case of renewable electricity produced by a building-mounted
photovoltaic electricity system with an electrical capacity greater
than 100 kilowatts and less than or equal to 1 megawatt;
(E)
At least [48.44] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable
electricity produced by a building-mounted photovoltaic electricity
system with an electrical capacity greater than 1 megawatt.
(2)
As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of compensation specified in
paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be reduced by 9 percent for a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during 2012, and shall
be reduced by an additional 9 percent of such rates of compensation as
of January 1 of each successive calendar year with respect to a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during such calendar
year. Such reduced rates of compensation shall be rounded to the
second decimal place of cents per kilowatt-hour.
(j) (1) The
following compensation shall be paid by the electric utility to the
renewable electricity producer for renewable electricity produced by a
concentrating solar electricity system:
(A) At least [39.64]
cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced
by a renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity less than
or equal to 5 megawatts;
(B) At least [36.70] cents per
kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity produced by a
renewable electricity system with an electrical capacity greater than 5
megawatts.
(2) As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of
compensation specified in paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be
reduced by [1] percent for a new renewable electricity system placed in
service during 2012, and shall be reduced by an additional [1] percent
of such rates of compensation as of January 1 of each successive
calendar year with respect to a new renewable electricity system placed
in service during such calendar year. Such reduced rates of
compensation shall be rounded to the second decimal place of cents per
kilowatt-hour.
(k) (1) The following compensation shall be
paid by the electric utility to the renewable electricity producer for
renewable electricity produced by a wind electricity system that is not
an offshore wind electricity system:
(A) At least [13.51]
cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity delivered
during the five-year period commencing on the date on which the wind
electricity system is placed in service;
(B) At least [7.37]
cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity delivered
during the fifteen-year period commencing on the fifth anniversary of
the date on which the wind electricity system is placed in service;
(2)
As of January 1, 2012, the minimum rates of compensation specified in
paragraph 1 of this subsection shall be reduced by 1 percent for a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during 2012, and shall
be reduced by an additional 1 percent of such rates of compensation as
of January 1 of each successive calendar year with respect to a new
renewable electricity system placed in service during such calendar
year. Such reduced rates of compensation shall be rounded to the
second decimal place of cents per kilowatt-hour.
(l) (1) The
following compensation shall be paid by the electric utility to the
renewable electricity producer for renewable electricity produced by an
offshore wind electricity system:
(A) At least [22.02] cents
per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity delivered during
the twelve-year period commencing on the date on which the offshore
wind electricity system is placed in service;
(B) At least
[5.14] cents per kilowatt-hour in the case of renewable electricity
delivered during the eight-year period commencing on the twelfth
anniversary of the date on which the offshore wind electricity system
is placed in service;
(2) As of January 1, 2016, the minimum
rates of compensation specified in paragraph 1 of this subsection shall
be reduced by 5 percent for a new renewable electricity system placed
in service during 2016, and shall be reduced by an additional 5 percent
of such rates of compensation as of January 1 of each successive
calendar year with respect to a new renewable electricity system placed
in service during such calendar year. Such reduced rates of
compensation shall be rounded to the second decimal place of cents per
kilowatt-hour.
(m) An unregulated subsidiary or affiliate of
an electric utility may be a renewable electricity producer. Such a
subsidiary or affiliate shall have the right to obtain a renewable
electricity purchase agreement from the electric utility on the same
terms as any other renewable energy producer and to be paid the same
feed-in tariff rate of compensation as any other renewable energy
producer for the production of renewable electricity and the delivery
of such renewable electricity to the electric utility.
(n) By
December 31 of the second calendar year following the calendar year
during which this section takes effect, and by December 31 of every
second calendar year thereafter, the energy resources coordinator shall
submit a progress report to the legislature on the development of
renewable electricity production in the State of Hawaii. The progress
report shall include an assessment of:
(1) the number, size
and types of renewable electricity systems placed in service during the
two-year period and cumulatively, and the amounts of renewable
electricity produced by such renewable electricity systems;
(2) the levelized costs of renewable electricity produced by such renewable electricity systems;
(3)
the dollar amounts paid for the purchase of such renewable electricity,
and the additional cost, if any, to ratepayers for such purchases, net
of all savings to the utility and ratepayers from reduced fossil fuel
consumption and all economic benefits of distributed generation,
including economic benefits of enhanced reliability;
(4) the
economic, social and environmental effects of such renewable
electricity production, such as the amount of investment in such
renewable electricity systems, the number of jobs created in the
renewable electricity sector and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions
avoided;
(5) the progress made toward achievement of State of
Hawaii renewable portfolio standard and greenhouse gas emissions goals;
and
(6) any proposed adjustments to the rates of compensation
in this section to reflect technological or market developments,
including the effects of new federal legislation or regulation, with
respect to the cost of renewable electricity produced by new renewable
electricity systems.
(o) Upon the request of a renewable
electricity producer, the commission may order, at its own discretion
and in consideration of the merits of the individual case, the electric
utility to temporarily interconnect a renewable electricity system to
the utility’s electric system and to purchase and pay for the renewable
electricity produced by the renewable electricity system at the rate of
compensation set forth in this section.
(p) A renewable
electricity producer may request any agency, authority, person or
organization entitled to verify the generation of a particular quantity
of energy from a renewable energy source to issue any certificate,
credit, allowance, green tag, or other transferable indicia, howsoever
titled, indicating the generation of a specific quantity of renewable
electricity by the renewable electricity producer’s renewable
electricity system, or indicating the renewable electricity producer’s
ownership of any environmental attributes associated with such
generation, including any right to report any such ownership to any
such agency, authority, person or organization. Any such certificate,
credit, allowance, green tag, other transferable indicia or
environmental attribute is the property of the renewable electricity
producer and freely assignable by the renewable electricity producer.
(q) The obligations of an electric utility to interconnect a
new renewable electricity system to the utility’s electric system and
to offer a renewable electricity purchase agreement to a renewable
electricity producer shall not apply with respect to renewable
electricity produced by a new renewable electricity system that is a
wind electricity system, and that is placed in service after December
31 of the year following the year in which the aggregate electrical
capacity of new renewable electricity systems that are wind electricity
systems as to which technical requirements for interconnection have
been met equals 25 per cent of the electric utility’s system peak
demand, provided that the commission may increase, by rule or order,
such aggregate electrical capacity limit above 25 per cent of the
electric utility’s system peak demand.
(r) The obligations of
an electric utility to interconnect a new renewable electricity system
to the utility’s electric system and to offer a renewable electricity
purchase agreement to a renewable electricity producer shall not apply
with respect to renewable electricity produced by a new renewable
electricity system that is a photovoltaic electricity system or a
concentrating solar electricity system, and that is placed in service
after December 31 of the year following the year in which the aggregate
electrical capacity of new renewable electricity systems that are
photovoltaic electricity systems or concentrating solar electricity
systems as to which technical requirements for interconnection have
been met equals 50 per cent of the electric utility’s system peak
demand, provided that the commission may increase, by rule or order,
such aggregate electrical capacity limit above 50 per cent of the
electric utility’s system peak demand.
(s) The requirements of
section 269-27.2 are not applicable to any renewable electricity
purchase agreement, or to any purchase of any renewable electricity
under any renewable electricity purchase agreement.
(t) A
renewable electricity producer that enters into a renewable electricity
purchase agreement with the electric utility shall not be an eligible
customer-generator for purposes of Part VI of this chapter.
(u)
A renewable electricity producer shall not be eligible to receive
feed-in tariff compensation under this section for any renewable
electricity produced by a renewable electricity system as to which an
income tax credit was claimed by any taxpayer pursuant to section
235-12.5.
(v) A renewable electricity producer shall not be
eligible to receive feed-in tariff compensation under this section for
any renewable electricity produced by a photovoltaic electricity system
as to which any person received a photovoltaic rebate under section
269-[___].”
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
INTRODUCED BY: ____________________________
