Monday’s Renewable Energy Report examines developments in Greece, where a law passed in June reduces barriers to renewables development and provides a new feed-in tariff. Under the old tariff, renewable energy technologies were treated the same across the board. The new system, like those in other European Union countries, provides a sliding scale of support for various systems — for example, wind farms connected to the mainland’s national grid receive 73/MWh, while solar photovoltaic units with less than 100 kW of capacity receive €50/MWh. In addition, renewables systems on the country’s non-interconnected islands are eligible for higher rates than interconnected facilities.
By contrast, in nations like the UK that use renewable energy certificate systems, all renewables are treated. Some analysts have expressed concern that REC systems inevitably favor mature technologies like wind power — systems, they say, that need government support the least — while putting emerging but more expensive technologies [...]
Should all renewables compete on a level playing field?
Monday’s Renewable Energy Report examines developments in Greece, where a law passed in June reduces barriers to renewables development and provides a new feed-in tariff. Under the old tariff, renewable energy technologies were treated the same across the board. The new system, like those in other European Union countries, provides a sliding scale of support for various systems — for example, wind farms connected to the mainland’s national grid receive 73/MWh, while solar photovoltaic units with less than 100 kW of capacity receive €50/MWh. In addition, renewables systems on the country’s non-interconnected islands are eligible for higher rates than interconnected facilities.
By contrast, in nations like the UK that use renewable energy certificate systems, all renewables are treated. Some analysts have expressed concern that REC systems inevitably favor mature technologies like wind power — systems, they say, that need government support the least — while putting emerging but more expensive technologies [...]
Original post by The Heritage Foundation – 2006-06-12