After a week of intense negotiation, South Australia becomes the first state in the country to introduce feed-in tariffs, with the passing of landmark legislation. The feed-in tariff offers 44 cents (twice the retail electricity rate) for every kilowatt hour of electricity which is fed back into the grid from solar PV systems. Greens MLC Mark Parnell’s proposed amendments – to extend from 5 to 20 years and include small business and others (churches, schools, etc) up to 160MWh/annum – were finally accepted by the government and the Bill passed on Thursday 14th February.

Whilst it is still only a relatively modest measure, mainly due to the fact that it is based on net metering, whereby system owners are only credited for any excess fed into the grid rather than the entire production of their system, the extension from 5 to 20 years is a big achievement and gives a point around which to lobby other states and territories, and nationally, for some real, decent and progressive feed-in tariffs in this country.

For more, see this story in the Adelaide Advertiser: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23216816-2682,00.html

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