Feed in Tariff
September 14, 2010
While Japan is a big player in the Solar Energy Manufacturing Market,there are other significant players like USA,China,Germany which have not protested against this discrimination.So why is Japan so miffed as to approach the WTO over this issue.One reason that i can readily think of is the Huge Contract given to Samsung by the Ontario government.The agreement with Samsung gives it the subsidies to set up a huge solar and wind energy capacity in the province.The government will support the company through preferential grid access,subsidies and land.This has given a huge boost to the Green Ambitions of Samsung which wants to become a big player in the Renewable Energy Area.
September 6, 2010
Estonia is facing increasing burden of renewable energy subsidies with electricity tariffs rising for the general population.With prices expected to be up almost 10% due to […]
September 1, 2010
This Program will try to avoid the disadvantages of Feed in Tariff Schemes as it will introduce a Market Based Element into the Tariffs.However this project is still at a preliminary stage and will need a lot of fine tuning.Note similar scheme have been implemented in China and India as well.The Chinese 280 MW of Projects have seen cuthroat competition with loss making bids by State Owned Utilities.It remains to be seen whether California can make a success of this RAM Program where China has failed.Even India has reported a huge response for the JNNSM First Phase of PV Projects.The Success of this California program will be crucial as it might serve as a template for future programs by other states and the Federal Government.
August 31, 2010
Don't know how these projects will further the cause of Solar Energy in China as they don't help in formulating realistic Feed in Tariff Rates for the Government's New Energy Administration (NEA).China has long been delaying the introduction of a Feed in Tariff (FIT) for Solar Energy.Note many major countries in the world except for China and the USA have Feed in Tariff Programs to promote Solar Energy.In fact 75% of the world's solar energy installations are dependent on the FIT subsidies.
August 31, 2010
.Most of the State Electricity Distributors are in poor financial shape and have been known to frequently default on their financial obligations.With almost 70-75% of the estimated $2.2 Billion in the first phase of the PV projects to be financed by debt,this represents a big hurdle for the success of Solar Energy.The government needs to come out with some sort of arrangement of guarantees for the smooth functioning of the Solar Mission and instill confidence amongst investors and Banks.
August 27, 2010
Czech Republic came out with a Renewable Energy Framework which will finish off the Solar Sector in the country if passed in the current form.Czech despite […]
August 25, 2010
Countries around the world have always managed to shoot themselves on the foot while designing and implementing Feed in Tariff Schemes.Spain did it in 2008 resulting in a Boom and Bust Cycle,Czech is going through the Boom Phase currently while UK seems to be in the starting stage of the Boom.A Bust inevitably follows the Boom,as Bureaucrats never manage to prepare a good incentive scheme to promote Green Energy.It always surprises me how a developed nation government regularly manages to botch up these schemes.
August 25, 2010
Even Germany has imposed yearly changes on FIT , still it has managed to become the solar capital of the world.2010 was an exception due to a mid year change,still Germany is going to install more solar capacity in 1 month than US's entire historical installed capacity.This is due to a well laid out policy which instills confidence in investors.The French Government's FIT cut has good reasons since ground mounted plants have lesser costs and most European countries like Spain are trying to boost residential solar installations.However rapid fire changes are not the answer to a well thought of careful FIT policy.
August 20, 2010
the administration had done nothing.Instead of setting out a Renewable Energy Standard or a Feed in Tariff Policy,the President seems busier in giving speeches and photo-ops.The result has been that USA is lagging far behind Europe and China in the Green Energy area.Deutche Bank Asset Management which invests $6-7 billion out of its $700 Billion corpus in the Green Sector,has made a scathing attack on the lack of US Federal Support for Green Industry.The Bank said it would totally bypass US in making Green Investments and concentrate its energies on China and Europe.Solar Companies are already outsourcing Green Jobs to Mexico and China. US Companies are already recognizing China as a Leader in the Clean Technology Area .
August 19, 2010
Ontario had ample opportunity to learn from past experience and its Renewable Energy Subsidy Policy is on the whole quite good.However one part of the FIT program which gave a very generous 80.2c/KwH to micro installations of solar projects under 10 KW was faulty.It led to 160 MW of project applications which were ground mounted with very high production as they used trackers.There was no discrimination between roof and ground mounted micro installations leading to this problem.Note its not possible to install trackers on roofs which can increase the energy by 30-35%.The large number of applications were not factored in by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) which proposed to retroactively cut those tariffs by 27% for ground plants.
August 17, 2010
The 10.8c/KwH Tariff will be almost 35% lower than the earlier project awarded in the Ningxia province.For comparison 10.8c/KwH is generally given to Wind Energy which has considerably lesser costs than Solar Energy.Parts of USA and Europe have electricity tariffs of greater than 20c/KwH at present.Such low tariffs may not be useful as they might lead to project delays if not cancellations.
August 12, 2010
The competition has been extremely high for these projects leading to zero to negative returns for investors.This is due to a) low electricity rates on offer b) Aggressive bidding leading to even lower rates.This new phase of projects seems to be repeat of the old program.Giant state utilities can easily bid to win even if they lose money in the process.
August 5, 2010
Thailand has proposed to generate 20% of its electricity from Renewable Energy by 2022 and has implemented an "adder" electricity tariff for Green Energy plants.This "adder" tariff is similar to the Feed in Tariff (FIT) schemes prevalent in other parts of the world which gives a higher electricity payment to Renewable Energy Power Generators.Under this policy Thailand is set to give the "adder" tariff for 500 MW of plants till 2020 after which the tariff might be reduced
August 5, 2010
United Kingdom has been a laggard in climate change and global warming issues especially compared to its European neighbours.While countries like Italy,Germany and Spain have installed […]
August 2, 2010
Spain has been in the media spotlight for its proposed retroactive solar subsidy cuts which were strongly opposed by the Solar Industry Association in Spain.These Feed […]
July 17, 2010
India’s Western state of Gujarat is one of the most developed regions in the country and has shown tremendous economic growth over the past decade.The state […]
July 15, 2010
Germany’s EEG program instrumental in bringing Solar Energy Close to Grid Parity Germany has been the poster child for Feed in Tariff success in promoting renewable […]
July 12, 2010
Italian Solar Feed in Tariff Cuts to be More Moderate than Market Expectations The German government allowed a face saving gesture to the Upper House by […]
July 6, 2010
The German Solar Feed in Tariff Reduction got another twist as the Upper House Bundesrat refused to pass the proposal into Law.This threw a spanner into […]
July 6, 2010
Spanish Government Facing a Tough Fiscal Situation;Plans Green Energy Subsidy Change The Spanish Government has been facing a tough budgetary situation due to sovereign debt problems […]
June 19, 2010
Background on Spanish Government’s proposal to cut Solar Subsidy on Existing Plants The Spanish government has been actively discussing with industry groups on how to reduce […]
June 17, 2010
According to the Spanish Solar Power Lobby ASIF,the Spanish government (under Pressure with Spanish Banks facing Funding Problems and Spanish Bond Yields Rising) is proposing a […]
June 4, 2010
The German Solar Feed in Tariff cut scheduled for July 2010 has got another twist with the Upper House of German Parliament Bundesrat not passing the […]
May 25, 2010
China has been rumored for a long time to mandate a law to provide for a higher electricity rates for renewable energy production (Feed in Tariff) […]
May 7, 2010
We all know what happened in Spain in 2008.Due to extremely generous feed in tariffs for solar , installers went on a spree installing 2.5 GW […]