A feed-in tariff is a renewable energy law that obliges energy suppliers to buy electricity produced from renewable resources at a fixed price, usually over a fixed periodeven from householders. These legal guarantees ensure investment security, and the support of all viable renewable energy technologies.

This report finds that the Government is undermining confidence in energy policy and hurting the UK solar industry by rushing through panicked changes to Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) without adequate notice to consumers and installers alike. The tariff rates for domestic-sized solar panels are to be reduced from 43.3p to 21p per kilowatt hour of electricity produced from April 2012. However, installations had to be completed and registered on the scheme by 12 December 2011 to receive the higher 43.3p rate for the full 25 years contract. The suddenness of these changes means that some households have been forced to cancel planned solar panels and face losing their deposits. Many local authority and community renewable energy schemes have been cancelled. Plans to require homes to meet a 'C' rated energy efficiency standard before they can receive solar FiTs will limit access to wealthier households, and 86 per cent of homes would need to be better insulated before they could qualify for the scheme under the Government's proposals. The report calls on the Government to: develop a system to review and adjust FiT rates in an orderly and timely way; consider alternative energy efficiency requirements to avoid devastating the industry; design a 'community tariff' that takes in to account the wider impacts on community groups and social housing projects; investigate how the FiTs scheme could be used to encourage solar panel manufacturing in the UK; require electricity suppliers to provide annual returns on how much FiTs have added to annual energy bills.

This book examines the coordination of renewable energy policies in the European Union using an innovative theoretical approach to explain national policy making. David Jacobs asks, why are national support instruments for electricity from renewable energy sources converging, even though the harmonisation of these frameworks at the European level has failed? Which causal mechanisms lead to cross-national policy similarities? And what are the implications for policy coordination in the EU? The author traces the evolution of feed-in tariffs - the most successful and most widely used support mechanism for renewable electricity - in Germany, Spain and France. He reveals increasing cross-national policy similarities in feed-in tariff design - despite the failure of harmonizing instruments at the European level. He explains these increasing policy similarities by applying policy convergence theory. Policy convergence can occur voluntarily, based on transnational communication, regulatory competition and technological innovations and these findings have important implications for European policy steering. The key to this book is the interrelation of an innovative theoretical concept (coordination of policies in the international arena via voluntary cooperation) with a very topical empirical research focus - the promotion of renewable energies in the EU. It will be essential reading for scholars and students of environmental policy, comparative politics and European studies.

First Published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This open access book gathers the results of an interdisciplinary research project led by the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER CREST) and jointly implemented by several universities. It identifies political, economic and legal challenges and opportunities in the energy transition from a governance perspective by exploring a variety of tools that allow state, non-state and transnational actors to manage the transition of the energy industry toward less fossil-fuel reliance. When analyzing the roles of these actors, the authors examine not only formal procedures such as political and democratic processes, but also market behavior and societal practices. In other words, the handbook focuses on both the behavior and the positive and normative frameworks of political actors, bureaucracies, courts, international organizations, lobby groups, civil society, economic actors and individuals. The authors subsequently use their findings to formulate specific guidelines for lawmakers and other rule-makers, as well as private and public actors. To do so, they draw on approaches stemming from the legal, political and management sciences.

Are you considering solar to get your bills down, but uncertain whether solar is right for you? Are you wary of potential rogue installers in such a new industry? Would you know a good solar panel brand from a dud? What about batteries? At long last there is an independent guide to buying and installing solar in Australia with the express aim of getting your future energy bills as low as possible. The Good Solar Guide demystifies the solar buying process in Australia showing you how many panels you need, which panel brands to buy, which to avoid, and how to find a great installer.

This book provides an overview of three generations of spatial econometric models: models based on cross-sectional data, static models based on spatial panels and dynamic spatial panel data models. The book not only presents different model specifications and their corresponding estimators, but also critically discusses the purposes for which these models can be used and how their results should be interpreted.

This report proposes a renewable energy subsidy mechanism for Indonesia to close the gap between the costs of renewable and conventional power generation. It takes into account the additional economic benefits of renewable power and considers how the government can support its rapid deployment in the power sector. The report emphasizes the need for Indonesia to adopt international best practice for planning, procurement, contracting, and risk mitigation to reduce the financial costs of renewable energy development. To achieve this, implementation of the subsidy should be part of a broader inter-ministerial electricity policy reform program.

This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.

Integration of Distributed Energy Resources in Power Systems: Implementation, Operation and Control covers the operation of power transmission and distribution systems and their growing difficulty as the share of renewable energy sources in the world's energy mix grows and the proliferation trend of small scale power generation becomes a reality. The book gives students at the graduate level, as well as researchers and power engineering professionals, an understanding of the key issues necessary for the development of such strategies. It explores the most relevant topics, with a special focus on transmission and distribution areas. Subjects such as voltage control, AC and DC microgrids, and power electronics are explored in detail for all sources, while not neglecting the specific challenges posed by the most used variable renewable energy sources. - Presents the most relevant aspects of the integration of distributed energy into power systems, with special focus on the challenges for transmission and distribution - Explores the state-of the-art in applications of the most current technology, giving readers a clear roadmap - Deals with the technical and economic features of distributed energy resources and discusses their business models