The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), a leader in utilizing renewable energy, has established a feed-in tariff (FIT) that will go into effect next January.
SMUD, which is the nation’s sixth largest publicly owned utility, called the new program "a huge step forward" for the industry and said it will
streamline the process through which it buys electricity fed into its distribution system from customers who own power generation systems.
The SMUD FIT applies to all types of renewable power as well as
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generators that burn natural gas. It sets higher
prices for power produced from renewable sources like solar and biogas.
The FIT is aimed at systems up to five megawatts (MW) connected to
SMUD’s local distribution system, and is capped at 100 MW systemwide–a level that has been praised by industry analysts. However, the complexity of the system may undermine its effectiveness, according to reports.
Paul Gipe has been closely covering the development of FITs in California and elsewhere in the U.S. for Wind-Works.org. He explains that SMUD’s program, while appearing quite bold on the surface, is not based on the costs of generating the renewable power.
Instead, payments are split into 216 rates based on the value of the energy to SMUD at different seasons, different times of the day, different contract lengths and other factors.
Read detailed coverage at the link below.
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