01/06/2011 Micro Scale Feed-In Tariff Closes
MICRO SCALE FEED-IN TARIFF CLOSES
Published: June 1, 2011, 9:19 am
Section: Simon Corbell, MLA | Media Releases
Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, has announced the closure of the Micro Generator component of the ACT Feed-In Tariff Scheme.
Mr Corbell said that the Legislative Assembly agreed in February 2011to changes to the scheme to ensure that the cost to consumers was maintained at a reasonable level.
"To do this the government set capacity caps on both the Micro and Medium Generator categories within the Scheme," Mr Corbell said.
"As at midnight last night (Tuesday, 31 May 2011) the Micro Generator category was closed as the legislated cap has been reached.
"The scheme has delivered all and more than was expected of it with unprecedented numbers of applications over the last few months. This rapid increase in take-up has been driven by the large reductions to Commonwealth rebates from 1 July this year.
"The closure of the Micro category does not spell the end of the feed-in tariff. Consistent with its long held policy position, the government sees the future of renewable generation in the ACT as being at a larger scale.
This scale of generation improves cost efficiency. We are the only jurisdiction in the country to look beyond the household rooftop towards a more sustainable industry.
In February 2011 the government introduced a Medium Generator category (for installations greater than 30kW and up to 200kW) with an allocated cap of 15MW.
"That cap remains largely uncommitted, householders who are still interested in investing in renewable energy can join one of the community groups that are forming to create community owned generators," Mr Corbell said.
"Later this year, the government will also introduce legislation for a large-scale generation feed-in tariff, with 40MW to be allocated to large generators (solar farms scale) by a reverse auction process in the next 12 months.
"The government will protect people who have proceeded in good faith and have already committed to an installation.
"Any householders or businesses who have entered into a contract for a solar installation and had paid a deposit before midnight last night can still be accepted into the scheme.
Mr Corbell said he proposed to adopt the same transitional arrangements recently applied by the Commonwealth to similar programs. Specifically, a customer can still access the closed scheme if that person:
entered into a valid contract before the program termination date/time;
can produce evidence that a monetary deposit had been paid to the contracted supplier prior to the termination date/time; and
can provide a Statutory Declaration to this effect.
It is expected that once all outstanding applications are processed that more than 6,000 ACT houses will be generating clean renewable energy on their rooftops contributing to the Territory's ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
The government has produced a guide to assist community groups organise themselves as generators.
Later this year the government will bring forward legislation to establish the first of the ACT's large scale renewable energy generators.
Statement Ends/ 1 June 2011
Media Contact:
Luke Austin 026205 1121 / 0400 080 420 / l
