According to SEMI, 80 percent of PV demand is from countries that support FIT policies. The policies are the best way of increasing demand for solar projects, the manufacturing industry association adds, for three reasons. They are performance-based, paying for electricity generated; they don't require taxpayer subsidies; and they do not conflict with other renewable energy policies.
"There is now broad consensus among both the … policy-making and financial communities that feed-in tariffs are one of the most powerful solar energy policy tools available," suggested Dan Martin, the executive vice president of SEMI's PV Group.
Ontario's FIT program was North America's first. Under that program, owners of PV systems that produce 10 or fewer kilowatts of electricity are eligible to receive 80.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour they generate. The tariffs are more generous for solar projects than other types of renewable energy: wind, for example, receives 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Wisconsin may soon provide feed-in tariffs, too. The chairs of the state's House and Senate committees on utilities and natural resources have proposed to create an FIT policy as part of a climate change bill.
