Landmark Oregon Feed-in Tariff
Oregonians can get paid to produce solar energy. Green
The table is set for a new Oregon feed-in tariff for solar power. The feed-in tariff, or FIT, is set to begin on July 1 and requires Oregon's largest investor-owned utilities to pay a premium rate to owners of solar electric systems for the power they produce. It is by far the most lucrative state-level program in the nation, and the first to set aside capacity for small-scale systems.
As it is a pilot program, the overall capacity reserved for it is small -- only 25 MW. However, the maximum size of an eligible photovoltaic (PV) system is 500 kW, leaving a lot of room for small-scale home solar power installations.
That, in turn, will spell dividends for a lot of Oregon homeowners, who will be eligible to receive up to $0.65 per kilowatt-hour for their solar electricity, minus about $0.10/kWh for the cost of the conventional electricity they consume (The Oregonian, May 28).
Rates will vary based on regions within Oregon set by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC). For instance, a resident of sunny eastern Oregon will only be eligible for up to $0.55 per kWh in an effort not to overpay certain customers with better-than-average solar irradiance.
The 25-MW capacity limit will include enough solar electricity to power about 2,000 homes, which, were it to be all homeowner systems (which it won't), would mean about 2,000 FIT participants. Oregon's two biggest utilities -- Pacific Power and Portland General Electric (PGE) -- along with some eastern Oregon customers of Idaho Power, will offer the tariff rate to customers.
The purpose of the FIT pilot is to, one, test the program, and two, incentivize solar power without taxpayer-funded subsidies. The hope is that the program will accomplish that feat while ensuring a return on investment for homeowners of 15 years or less.
Under rules set by the PUC system, owners may collect on the federal 30-percent renewable energy tax credit and participate in the FIT. However, homeowners may not use the FIT in conjunction with any of Oregon's existing solar rebates or incentives.
The Oregon PUC did not estimate how much, but rates for all customers of participating utilities will rise by some amount in order to fund the program. Determining exactly how much will apparently have to wait until after the program is up and running...just in time for Oregon's sunniest months.
Beside the province of Ontario, Canada, Oregon is the first state-level government in North America to follow so closely in the footsteps of Germany, whose trendsetting FIT propelled the fairly cloudy country (similar to Oregon) into the world-leader in solar PV generation. Washington and California have FIT programs that use aspects of the Oregon program, and Vermont has a similar program focused on large-scale systems, but none are as lucrative or small-scale-friendly as Oregon's.
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