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Technologies and plants to be covered
A FIT law needs to state clearly what renewable energy technologies and plants are covered by it. The text should define the following aspects:
Eligible technologies
Knowing your country or region's resource availability is an essential first step in determining the eligible technologies.
Once you have done this, you need to define which technologies are covered by the FIT law.
If your country or region does not already have a FIT law, we recommend keeping it simple at the start and including only a few technologies, such as wind, small hydro and solar PV. This, at least, has been true of countries with longer FIT histories, where over the years laws have been amended to add more technologies. If you plan to include only a few technologies at the start, we suggest mentioning them in the title of the law.
The definitions of some technologies need special attention, in particular biomass and waste and building-integrated PV.
For example: FIT laws around the world apply to a wide range of technologies:
- only solar PV has been covered by Italy's law
- a wide definition has been enacted in China with an exception that might be typical in less industrialized countries
- a typical definition found in several EU countries has been enacted in Austria
Italy
English
Decree of 19 February 2007, Articles 1 and 2.1.a) provide:
Art. 1. Purpose
1. The present decree lays down the criteria and the arrangements for encouraging the production of electrical energy by solar photovoltaic systems, implementing art. 7 of the legislative decree of 29 December 2003, No 387.
Art. 2. Definitions
1. The following definitions apply for the purposes of the present decree:
a) A solar photovoltaic system (or photovoltaic system) is a system that produces electrical energy by means of the direct conversion of solar radiation through the photovoltaic effect; it mainly comprises a series of photovoltaic modules, hereinafter also referred to as modules, one or more inverters that convert direct current into alternating current and other minor electrical components;
Italiano
Decreto 19 febbraio 2007, Articoli 1 e 2.1.a) dichiarano quello:
Art. 1. Finalita'
1. Il presente decreto stabilisce i criteri e le modalita' per incentivare la produzione di energia elettrica da impianti solari fotovoltaici, in attuazione dell'art. 7 del decreto legislativo 29 dicembre 2003, n. 387.
Art. 2. Definizioni
1. Ai fini del presente decreto valgono le seguenti definizioni:
a) impianto o sistema solare fotovoltaico (o impianto fotovoltaico) e' un impianto di produzione di energia elettrica mediante conversione diretta della radiazione solare, tramite l'effetto fotovoltaico; esso e' composto principalmente da un insieme di moduli fotovoltaici, nel seguito denominati anche moduli, uno o piu' gruppi di conversione della corrente continua in corrente alternata e altri componenti elettrici minori;
China
English
Renewable Energy Law 2005, Article 2 provides that:
Renewable energy in this law refers to non-fossil energy of wind energy, solar energy, water energy, biomass energy, geothermal energy, and ocean energy, etc.
but it excludes:
the direct burning of straw, firewood and dejecta, etc. on low-efficiency stove.
简体字
2005年 《中华人民共和国可再生能源法》第2 条规定：
本法所称可再生能源，是指风能、太阳能、水能、生物质能、地热能、 海洋能等非化石能源。
不适用于:
通过低效率炉灶直接燃烧秸秆、薪柴、粪便等所获得的能源。
Austria
English
Green Electricity Act 2002, as amended in 2006, Article 5(1) 11 provides that:
(1) For the purposes of this Act the term...
11. 'renewable energy sources' shall mean renewable non-fossil energy sources (wind, solar, geo-thermal, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, waste containing a high percentage of biogenous materials, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases);
Deutsch
Ökostromgesetz 2002, in der Fassung von 2006, § 5(1) 11 lautet:
(1) Im Sinne dieses Bundesgesetzes bezeichnet der Ausdruck...
11. 'erneuerbare Energieträger' erneuerbare, nichtfossile Energieträger (Wind, Sonne, Erdwärme, Wellen- und Gezeitenenergie, Wasserkraft, Biomasse, Abfall mit hohem biogenen Anteil, Deponiegas, Klärgas und Biogas);
Eligible plants
When choosing which plants to be covered, the legislator needs to consider:
size categories
The main contribution that FITs can make to combating climate change will come through replacing large-scale conventional electricity plants and covering rapidly increasing electricity demand. This contribution requires no limits to be placed on either plant sizes or the overall installed capacity of renewable energy plants producing electricity.
Some early FIT laws applied rather restrictive general plant size restrictions, in that the tariffs (or prices) were only paid for plant below a certain threshold of installed capacity (e.g. wind energy plants under 10 MW). We do not recommend this as a general restriction, as it slows down the development of renewable electricity deployment.
Large hydro power plants
An exception from this rule should be made for large hydro power plants. Large-scale hydro-power is a "conventional" renewable energy source that is usually able to compete with conventional energy sources without financial support. A capacity limit for hydro-power plants should therefore be set. Depending on the geographic and economic circumstances in your region or country, hydro power plants with more than 20-100 MW should be excluded.
For example, the hydro capacity limit has been set at 20 MW in Greece, and at 50 MW in Spain.
Greece
Law 3468 of 27 June 2006, Article 27.4 provides that:
4. Hydropower produced by hydroelectric plants which have a total installed
capacity of more than 20 MW shall be excluded from the application of the provisions of this law.
Spain
English
Royal Decree 661/2007, Article 2.1 provides that:
The electric power production plants covered by article 27.1 in the 1997 Electricity Act shall be eligible for the special regime under this Royal Decree.
Those plants are classified in the following categories, groups and subgroups in line with the primary energies used, production technologies employed and energy performances obtained: …
b) Category b): installations that use as primary energy any of the non-consumable renewable energies, biomass or any type of biofuel, as long as their operator does not carry out activities in the ordinary regime.
This category b) is in turn broken down into eight groups: …
5.º Group b.5. Hydroelectric power plants plants whose installed capacity is more than 10 MW but no greater than 50MW.
Español
Real Decreto 661/2007, Artículo 2.1 establece que:
Podrán acogerse al régimen especial establecido en este real decreto las instalaciones de producción de energía eléctrica contempladas en el artículo 27.1 de la Ley 54/1997, de 27 de noviembre.
Dichas instalaciones se clasifican en las siguientes categorías, grupos y subgrupos, en función de las energies primarias utilizadas, de las tecnologías de producción empleadas y de los rendimientos energéticos obtenidos: . . .
b) Categoría b): instalaciones que utilicen como energía primaria alguna de las energías renovables no consumibles, biomasa, o cualquier tipo de biocarburante, siempre y cuando su titular no realice actividades de producción en el régimen ordinario.
Esta categoría b) se clasifica a su vez en ocho grupos: . . .
5.º Grupo b.5. Centrales hidroeléctricas cuya potencia instalada sea superior a 10 MW y no sea superior a 50 MW.
time restrictions
ownership restrictions
A FIT law is not intended to benefit publicly-owned utilities. Legislators may therefore wish to exclude plants where such utilities own a significant share. This might be particularly appropriate if the electricity market is being privatised, and would help the market share of private investors to increase.
For example: This feature has been enacted in Germany
Germany
English
Renewable Energy Sources Act, 2004, Article 2(2) provides that:
(2) This act shall not apply to plants of which over 25 per cent are owned by the Federal Republic of Germany or one of its Länder ...
Deutsch
Gesetz für den Vorrang Erneuerbarer Energien, 2004, § 2(2) lautet:
(2) Dieses Gesetz findet keine Anwendung auf Anlagen, die zu über 25 Prozent der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder einem Land gehören ...
territorial restrictions
It is usual to limit a FIT law to plants located in the relevant country or region. Plants based outside, but supplying electricity into a country or region, are usually excluded. Special reference should also be made to territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone, if, for example, offshore wind farms are to be covered.
A typical example has been enacted in France.
France
English
Arrêté of 10th July 2006, Article 1 provides that:
This arrêté sets the conditions for the purchase of electricity produced by installations using wind energy as envisaged by Article 2.2 of the decree of 6th December 2000 referred to above. These installations are of two types:
1. Installations using wind energy situated on land
2. Installations using wind energy situated on the domaine public maritime or in the exclusive economic zone.
Francais
Arrêté du 10 juillet 2006, Article 1er dispose que:
Le présent arrêté fixe les conditions d'achat de l'électricité produite par les installations utilisant l'énergie mécanique du vent telles que visées au 2o de l'article 2 du décret du 6 décembre 2000 susvisé. Ces installations sont de deux types :
1. Les installations utilisant l'énergie mécanique du vent situées à terre ;
2. Les installations utilisant l'énergie mécanique du vent situées sur le domaine public maritime ou dans la zone économique exclusive.
Choose the technologies and plants to be covered in your proposed law
How do I compile my proposed law?
Here you can choose the draft sample text provided for up to 11 technologies, and for plants.
When you choose a technology, your choice will be highlighted and further text options for plants offered. These choices are linked, so your technology choice will appear (as section 4(1)) in your proposed law document only if you choose a plant option as well. Your plant choices will appear as section 4(2). Terms which have been defined appear in bold, and will automatically appear in the Definitions section at the end of your document.
For each technology, you can choose plants producing electricity from that technology without size categories (Option A), or with size categories (usually, Option B). Text for three size categories is offered, without a maximum except for small hydropower. Offline you can specify the plant capacities to create the actual categories, and of course increase or decrease the number of categories. Size categories can help get the tariff (or price) right.
These choices are driven by the need to get the tariff (or price) right, which is achieved mainly by making them technology-specific, and guaranteeing payment for a certain number of years. When you make your choices here, additional text will automatically appear in the pricing provisions of your document (section 8(1) and (2)), which will enable you offline to insert the tariff (or price) and payment period. So we recommend reading those pages before making your choices here.
Explaining choices for solar PV and wind
For solar PV, you can choose to distinguish between plants producing electricity from building-integrated PV and from non-building integrated PV, without size categories (Option B) or with size categories (Option C); or you can choose plants producing electricity from architecturally-integrated PV, from partially-integrated PV and from non-building integrated PV, without size categories (Option D) or with size categories (Option E). [To check the definition of the different types of PV plant see the Definitions section.]
For wind, you can choose plants producing electricity without size categories from offshore wind only (Option B), or from onshore wind only (Option C), or from both (Option D). Or, you can choose plants producing electricity with size categories from wind wherever located (Option E), from offshore only (Option F), from onshore only (Option G) or from both offshore and onshore (Option H).
For wind energy, as well as different tariffs for different plant sizes, a location specific tariff might have to be introduced. Size and location categories can help get the tariff (or price) right