1. Feed-in Tariffs in North America
Solar Energy: A Solution to Environmental Problems?
George Washington University Institute for Analysis of Solar Energy
Wilson Rickerson
April 24th, 2009

2. Feed-in Tariffs Worldwide
National Feed-in Tariffs
Source: REN21. (2009). Renewables Global Status
Regional Feed-in Tariffs
Report: 2008.

3. Federal Feed-in Tariff (Inslee, D-WA)

4. The FIT Landscape
14 States with
legislation
8 states with
Gubernatorial or
regulatory initiatives

5. FITs and RECs
Ratepayer Impacts
Wgt. Avg. by Project Type
Rebate/SREC
SREC Only
Underwriter Model 15y
Commodity Market Model
Auction Model
15 Yr Tariff Model
Hybrid-Tariff Model
$0.0000 $0.0002 $0.0004 $0.0006 $0.0008 $0.0010 $0.0012 $0.0014 $0.0016 $0.0018
$/kWh
Source: Summit Blue (2008)

6. So what could FITscrisis for?
The banking be used
…creates new uncertainty
The impact will differ by regulatory mechanism
•Transmission expansion
(end 2007) Feed-in ROCs / RPS PTC
•Smart grid-ready generation
>90% 60-80% 75%
Leverage (debt, %)
70-80% 50-70% ???
15-18y 13-15y 12y
Maturity (after completion)
•Distributed generation 13-15y Mini-perms ???
60-100pb 90-120pb 100-125pb
Margins
170-200bp 200-250bp ???
•Community ownership

7. Interaction with the Federal Power Act
“The Commission lacks wholesale price-setting authority, as the Congress and the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission…have preempted the State from asserting
such authority…”
- Southern California Edison in CPUC FIT proceeding