Watch this 5-minute clip of our film about Feed-In Tariffs, or contact us to order the full version.
What is a FIT law?
Faced with the need to increase the amount of electricity generated by renewable energies, governments must choose from a range of policy options. A Feed-In Tariff law is the best available mechanism for accelerating the uptake of renewable energy in grid-connected areas.
Not only this, but a good FIT system is a truly democratic policy - one which makes it cost-effective for people to generate their own clean electricity; one which returns power to the people.
How do FITs work?
FITs oblige energy companies to buy renewable energy from producers, and sets the price which these companies pay per unit of electricity. By guaranteeing access to the grid and setting a favourable price per unit of power, FITs ensure that renewable energy is a sound long-term investment - for companies, for industry, and for individuals - thereby creating a strong economic incentive for investing in renewables.
Contact us to order our short film about FITs.
Who pays?
The most common method for funding the FIT involves sharing the costs amongst the end-users. The result being that the increase in price per household is very small.
What are the benefits of a FIT law?
When designed effectively, FITs are proven to:
- Reduce CO2 emissions by replacing fossil fuel-based power production with clean, renewable sources of energy
- Create jobs - for example the German renewables industry employs around 234,000 people. Almost 60% of which were employed as a direct result of the German FIT law.
- Help secure domestic energy supply - enabling countries to stop relying on imported fossil fuels
- Guarantee investment security for renewable energy investors
- Drive technological innovation, and
- Provide fair market conditions for renewables which without this system, compete with heavily-subsidised conventional energy.
Common criticisms
FITs are often rejected for being 'interventionist' - for interfering in the free market - and for being inefficient or ineffective as a result.
All renewable energy support mechanisms are interventions in the market. What makes FITs unique is that they have proven to be the most effective mechanism for increasing the uptake in renewable energy, and the best at creating market growth.
It is also worth noting that those who argue that FITs are interventionist frequently advocate some form of quota system or 'renewable portfolio standard'. But quota systems are just as interventionist: while FITs fix the amount to be paid for the electricity, and allow the market to determine the amount of electricity generated; quota systems fix the latter, and allow the market to determine the former.
What's in a name?
Sometimes, FIT laws are called Advanced Renewable Tariffs, Feed Laws or Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs (REFITs). The key question is not their label, but whether they effectively address the above objectives.
It is important, though, to know what is not a FIT law.
Find out more
Find out what should be in a good FIT law.
To learn more about FITs we have provided several studies which show their advantages in the renewable electricity sector.
Find out what you need to consider before drafting a FIT law
The World Future Council is working to promote FITs and has produced a guide for politicians that outlines the basics of feed-in tariff systems. Our researchers have also written a more detailed book - Feed in Tariffs: Accelerating the deployment of renewable energy - that compares different support schemes.
WFC Books on Feed-in Tariffs and Renewable Energy
Feed-in Tariffs - accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, by Miguel Mendonça, April 2009.
Powering the Green Economy - the feed-in tariff handbook, by Miguel Mendonça, David Jacobs and Benjamin Sovacool, forthcoming in November 2009.
A Renewable World - Energy, Ecology, Equality, by Herbert Giradet and Miguel Mendonça, forthcoming in September 2009.
Useful links:
The International Feed-in Cooperation: http://www.feed-in-cooperation.org/
Paul Gipe's site (Wind-Works): http://www.wind-works.org/
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP): http://www.reeep.org/
The Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21): http://www.ren21.net/
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear safety [renewable energy page]: http://www.bmu.de/english/aktuell/4152.php