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MONDAY 02 NOVEMBER, 2009 | |

Renewable Energy Feed In Tariffs Vs. Emissions Trading

by Energy Matters     

According to a study by Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management (DeAM) division, emissions trading hasn't stimulated renewable energy investment and energy efficiency and governments should instead focus on introducing feed-in tariffs.
 
A feed-in tariff is a premium price paid to an electricity generator (which can be a commercial enterprise or the owner of a residential solar power system) to feed renewable energy onto the grid.
 
Quotes from Deutsche Bank’s Global Climate Change Policy Tracker report:
 
"While feed-in tariffs have been criticized for their cost in some geographies, they have a track record of successfully scaling up renewable generating capacity."
 
"We believe that appropriately-designed and budgeted feed-in tariffs have demonstrated their ability to deliver renewable energy at scale."
 
"We use a suite of criteria to define this rating, but we note that within a consistent and durable integrated policy framework incentives such as feed-in tariffs are a key driver of investability."
 
"Indeed, we believe that Lord Stern’s view that feed-in tariffs achieve larger deployment at lower costs has a lot of merit."
 
In an interview with  Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management (DeAM) division, Mr Parker said that aspects of  cap-and-trade are distorting supply and demand that will delay implementation of clean power technologies and that the credibility of carbon markets "is up for debate".
 
However, feed-in tariffs, which provide renewable energy developers with a bankable revenue stream, have "demonstrated their ability to deliver scale", he said, using examples of Spain and Germany which have developed robust renewable energy sectors. 
 
The Deutsche Bank report, "Global Climate Change Policy Tracker: An Investor’s Assessment" provides investors with an analysis of climate change policies and assigns a risk rating to 109 countries, states and regions based on key government mandates and supporting policy frameworks. The report was produced by the Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, working with the Columbia Climate Center at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. 
 
The full executive summary of the report can be viewed here (PDF)

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