Some Australian state-based residential solar schemes put into place between 2010 and 2012 offered households attractive FITs, in measures designed to kick-start the distributed solar sector. The schemes were enthusiastically taken up by consumers, however these solar households now face significantly reduced revenues generated by their PV system, as the initial incentive tariffs expire. The Life After FITs report, published by the Alternative Technology Association this month, commissioned by Energy Consumers Australia, concludes that over 275,000 households will be affected by the tariff programs' expiring, with solar feed ins dropping by as much as 90%. 146,000 solar homes in New South Wales (NSW) are in line for the biggest tariff drop, with solar FITs under the Solar Bonus Scheme falling from either an extremely generous AU$0.60 or AU$0.20/kWh falling to between AU$0.055 to AU$0.072 on January 1, 2017. However, in NSW the government has not mandated a minimum FIT that utilities must pay households for solar electricity fed into the grid, and the new FITs represent only a "benchmark range" determined by the state's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal. In neighboring Victoria, more than ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...