By Australian Solar Quotes
The ACT holds the the trophy for being the first government in Australia to introduce a feed-in tariff for large scale renewable energy systems.
The price will be set after an auction where by the most economical and credible project will be selected from a number of competing projects.
The first round of contracts to build up to 40MW of large scale solar facilities in the ACT has been called and the winners to be announced in July 2012.
Due to a number of grants based programs by the Australian Federal Government appearing to be at a standstill, the auction is expected to generate an enormous amount of interest among solar developers.
More than 80 countries around the world have adopted a 20-year feed-in tariff as well as using a similar auction system. This system by far proves to be the most effective mechanism of setting a fair price whilst avoiding the need for constant reviews based on the falling price of renewable technology. With such proven success overseas, the ACT has decided to run with the 20-year feed-in tariff.
The ACT’s Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, says the tender process will ensure that Canberra gets the best value for its renewable technology.
“Having a feed-in tariff on the table for industry is essential to give the industry investment certainty, that will in turn see Canberra’s plan to become Australia’s solar capital a reality,” Corbell said in a statement.
“Having large scale solar in the ACT will assist in reducing carbon emissions beyond the national targets and take advantage of the large reductions in the cost of solar energy that has recently occurred in Australia.”
