Feed-in Tariffs in Australia

Feed-in tariffs in Australia have been enacted by several State Governments for electricity generated by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Feed-in tariffs (FIT) are a premium rate paid to producers of renewable energy. They are a way of subsidising renewable energy and in Australia have been enacted at the State level, in conjunction with a federal law creating a mandatory renewable energy target. Both net and gross feed in tariffs have been introduced by various governments. Net FIT's generally pay comparatively little to the producer (generally a household) because electricity produced by solar photovoltaic or other renewable energy just offsets the producer's usage. Net FIT's are referred to as "fake feed-in tariff" and is actually net metering, with a monthly payment for net generation, instead of the normal roll over. Gross tariffs conform to the normal definition of a feed-in tariff, and provide a more certain financial return, paying for all electricity produced, even if it is consumed by the producer, reducing or helping meet peak demand.

The ACT and New South Wales have gross feed-in tariffs. Other State Governments have enacted net feed-in tariff schemes which have been criticised for not providing enough incentive for households to install solar panels and thus for not effectively encouraging the uptake of solar PV.

Australian FIT laws tend to focus on providing support to solar PV particularly in the residential context, and project limits on installed capacity (such as 10kW in NSW) mean effectively that FITs do not support large scale projects such as wind farms or solar thermal power stations.

A uniform federal scheme to supersede all State schemes has been proposed by Tasmanian Greens Senator Christine Milne, but not enacted. National feed-in tariff systems have been enacted in numerous countries including Brazil, Canada, China and many EU countries.