FARE Files Florida PSC Comments Calling for Feed-in Tariffs

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http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=53480

Tradable credits are the renewable equivalent of the Alaskan bridge to nowhere says a recent filing made with the Florida Public Service Commision (PSC). The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE) filed comments with the Public PSC on August 26, 2008 suggesting that the state move towards a system of feed-in tariffs rather than going down its present path.

The Alliance is a coalition of leading Florida solar companies and the Alliance for Renewable Energy, a group formed to promote Renewable Energy Payments (feed-in tariffs) in North America.

FARE's filing was in response to a PSC docket on the state's proposed Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) using a system of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) as the development mechanism. While many RPS policies do not use tradable credits as the sole implementing mechanism, some do.

Prepared by Florida investment banker John Burges, the filing argued that the proposed REC program, "will benefit a few large companies at the expense of many small and mid-sized" firms and do little to advance the Governor's renewable economic and industrial development objectives. Burges contrasted the success of Germany's feed-in tariffs in creating 250,000 jobs with the PSC's timid proposal.

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