Literature about RPS and Feed-In Tariffs

Renewables Portfolio Standards

Christopher Cooper and Benjamin Sovacool, Renewing America: the Case for Federal Leadership on a National Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), June 2007.

Nancy Rader and Scott Hempling, The Renewables Portfolio Standard: A Practical Guide. Prepared for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, 2001, book-length pdf downloadable from www.hemplinglaw.com/articles/RPS%20FINAL.PDF.

Renewable Energy Certificates and the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, downloadable from www.cpuc.ca.gov/published/Report/55606.htm

Union of Concerned Scientists has compiled a RPS Toolkit

Feed-In Tariffs

Miguel Mendonca, Feed-in Tariffs: Accelerating the Deployment of Renewable Energy (2007) Amazon is a comprehensive although a little pricey reference work. Web site with articles is http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/recom_reading_fit.html.

Craig Morris, Energy Switch: Proven Solutions for a Renewable Future, 2006, Review, Amazon.

The Guardian, Monday July 27 2007, Germany sets shining example in providing a harvest for the world. Related podcast.

Paul Gipe's web site has an extensive Collection of articles about Feed-In Tariffs.

Wilson Rickerson: Telephone Seminar What Can the U.S. Learn from European Feed-In Tariffs?. The paper underlying this presentation is Wilson Rickerson and Robert Grace's The Debate over Fixed Price Incentives for Renewable Electricity in Europe and the United States: Fallout and Future Directions.

Commission of the European Communities: The Support of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources compares the different support models.

California Integrated Energy Policy Report Workshop on Feed-In Tariffs with transcript and all the presentations. It discusses the question whether the present phase of the California RPS should be amended by FIT, and whether the next phase should be amended or replaced by FIT.

Latest Progress Report from Germany.

Nova episode Saved by the Sun contains segments about the German Feed-In Tariffs.

Feed-in tariffs, which were very successful in Germany, drew the following mixed review in Canada: Mixed Reviews for Ontario's Feed-in Tariff. A good explanation why these feed-in tariffs had their problems was given by Paul Gipe in the above California workshop, see pp. 89-97 of the Transcript. Basically the Feed-In rates were too low for individual households to participate. The price offered for PV-solar is 42 Candadian cents per khw. This is the highest on the continent but only half of what would make an solar panel on the roof profitable. It's a philosophical battle which is only partially won but the momentum is there. Gipe thinks the glass is half full instead of half empty.

The book Renewable City: A Comprehensive Guide to an Urban Revolution, by Peter Droege, Wiley-Academy 2006, p. 165, formulates the difference between RPS and Feed-In Tariffs as follows:

Australia and the United States may have placed the cart before the horse, seeking to battle a difficult market, instead of shaping and riding it.

I.e., RPS = battling a difficult market, while FIT = shaping a market and riding it.