Gainesville’s City Commissioners in Florida have unanimously approved of implementing a solar feed-in tariff in the city, which is expected to be in place by March 1, the Independent Florida Alligator reports. According to the article, this is the first city in the U.S. to implement a solar feed–in tariff.
The city’s feed-in tariff is molded after such tariffs already in place in Europe. Under the program, Gainesville Regional Utilities will buy all of the electricity produced by solar PV systems at a guaranteed rate per kilowatt-hour. In Germany, the cost of the feed-in-tariff program amounts to about a 2 percent increase to an average family’s monthly electricity costs, reported TreeHugger.
The solar energy will be produced at $0.32 per kilowatt-hour and sold back to customers or businesses for $0.12 per kilowatt-hour.
Previously, solar systems were only partially reimbursed for the energy produced. Now the full compensation is expected to provide a greater incentive for long-term investment in renewable energy.
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This is a great example of leading the US to show long term support for alternative energy that will help residents re-coup their investment in solar so that technology is working to help lower their electric bill.
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