FiTs support 80% of required solar capacity worldwide

PV Group, a US-based alliance of solar-based energy companies, has recently published a report that supports the development of Feed-in Tariff (FiT) schemes, described as the most effective approach to ensure sustainable growth for the PV sector.

The whitepaper also points out that FiTs can be simply incorporated with the existing incentives, like renewable energy certificates and solar rebates, as implemented in Australia. The FiT incentives should be large enough to influence fundamental markets and to drive PV technology costs downward.

In the past, PV costs had dropped 20 per cent for every doubling of constructed power-generating facility. The exception to this principle was experienced recently due to silicon shortage. However, the changing market conditions has allowed the supply to catch up with the global demand, resulting in significant drop in solar panel costs.

Vice President of PV Group, Dan Martin, said that there are now more than 40 different FiT guidelines in force around the world, with no two identical. There were over 5.5GW of installed PV in 2008 alone, which increased the total global capacity to 14.7GW – a fifteen-fold rise compared to the previous decade. He also informed that almost 80 per cent of the world’s solar power requirement has arisen from FiT-supported policies.

Moreover, the PV Group whitepaper states that in developing FiT plans, it is not enough that the scheme generates long-term, generous incentives. The feasibility and stability of the policy must also be considered, as any policy volatility can drive energy investors away from entering into a new solar market.