The Sacramento Municipal Utility District plans to launch a feed-in tariff program next January that would allow solar energy system owners to sell excess electricity to the utility.
The program would apply not just to solar but other renewable energy such as biogas. And, it also would apply to owners of combined heat and power generators, which are natural gas power plants that make use of waste heat to reduce their energy consumption and emissions.
The utility would buy electricity from systems that are up to 5 megawatts in generation capacity. It has capped the overall program at 100 megawatts. Both residential and commercial/industrial customers are eligible to apply, said Jon Bertolino, superintendent of renewable energy at the utility.
The program would be available only to customers who aren't enrolled in the net metering program, which credits customers for the solar electricity they ended up not using and was fed into the grid instead.
A feed-in tariff program typically is designed to allow its participants to make money from selling power to their utilities. This type of incentive program has been credited with turning countries such as Germany and Spain into the world's top two solar energy markets.
In Germany and Spain, solar energy system owners could sell all of the electricity generated back to the utilities. The Sacramento utility's customers would have to do that as well, Bertolino said.
The municipal utility also would limit the feed in tariff program to those who don't take advantage of a state program that provides rebates for buying solar energy systems. Participants of the Sacramento feed-in tariff program would still be eligible for the 30 percent federal investment tax credit, Bertolino said.
Sacramento is one of a growing number of cities and states developing feed-in tariff programs. The utility owned by Gainesville, Fla., launched one for solar earlier this year and capped it at 4 megawatts per year. The program already has received enough applications to fulfill that cap through 2014, according to the utility's website.
Vermont has a feed in tariff program for all sorts of renewable energy. It has set an overall cap of 50 megawatts for the program, which was launched in May this year.
California also has a feed in tariff program for renewable energy generation, but it's limited to serving customers of seven utilities such as PG&E. Critics say the program isn't crafted well enough to attract takers. One complaint: The solar electricity prices are too low because they are based on the cost of building and operating a combined cycle gas power plant.
The Sacramento utility has a different rate structure for its feed in tariff program than the state. One big difference is that the utility would pay wholesale prices that would vary based on the time of the day it gets the solar power – more in hot summer days and less in winter mornings.
