Posted on October 27, 2009 by Alex Wilson
Vermont made history last week, becoming the first state to offer “feed-in tariffs” for electricity generated from renewable energy sources.
Feed-in tariffs have been used since the early 1990s in Europe, most notably in Germany, to jump-start the photovoltaic(PV) Generation of electricity directly from sunlight. A photovoltaic cell has no moving parts; electrons are energized by sunlight and result in current flow. (solar electricity) industry. In a nutshell, they are government-mandated, long-term power purchase contracts for electricity generated by renewable energy systems at rates that are significantly higher than the market rate for wholesale power.