Simple, Transparent Feed-in Tariff Policy Responsible for Most Renewable Energy

Feed-in tariffs are a comprehensive renewable energy policy responsible for two-thirds of the world’s wind power (64 percent) and almost 90 percent of the world’s solar power.  With simplified grid connections, long-term contracts and attractive prices for development, that’s policy that works.

The basic premise of the feed-in tariff is that the electric utility must connect any wind turbine or solar panel (or other generator) to the grid and buy all the electricity via a long-term contract with a public price.  It’s use in Germany and its simplicity have led to mass local ownership of renewable energy in that country.

In the U.S., the policy is spreading, having been adopted by multiple municipal utilities in Florida, Indiana, and California as well as states including Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Vermont.

Click to see more feed-in tariff (also known as CLEAN Contracts in the U.S.) coverage on Energy Self-Reliant States or see some of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s other work on the subject:

• Feed-in Tariffs in America: Driving the Economy with Renewable Energy Policy that Works
• Pricing CLEAN Contracts for Solar PV in the U.S.
• Bringing Renewable Energy Home – A conference on feed-in tariffs

Source for pie charts: Jacobs, David.  Applicability of the German FIT to the Taiwanese policy framework.  (Presentation to the International Symposium on Germany’s Renewable Energy Development and Power-purchasing Policy Trends, Taipei, Taiwan, 9/28/11).