Nation’s First Feed-in Tariff Law for Renewables Proposed in Michigan

For the first time, a law permitting small generators of clean energy to benefit from the kind of ‘Feed-In Tariff’ that has made the solar market explode in Germany and Italy has been proposed in the U.S.

In Michigan, Assemblywoman Kathleen Law has submitted a bill that would allow homeowners, farmers and businesses to sell their renewable energy at a profit to the electricity grid. A similar bill introduced in Hawaii earlier in the year covered only solar installations.

The Michigan bill differentiates between types of renewable energy, allowing a higher rate to be earned for rooftop solar than for wind, hydro, biogas or geothermal; this is to encourage homeowners across the state to install solar panels on their homes.

One significant difference between feed-in laws and the net metering laws more common in the U.S. is that the former permit ordinary citizens to profit from their clean energy investment, while the latter simply reduce the net kilowatt usage, and therefore partially offset the electricity bill paid by the homeowner.

Before becoming law, the bill must pass both the House and Senate and must be signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has made renewable energy a key element of her administration.

In the spring of 2007 Governor Granholm travelled to Germany. On her return she was quoted in the Detroit News as saying, “In Germany they created 170,000 jobs by changing the incentives for the use of wind and solar. We ought to be doing the same thing in Michigan.”

At Solar Nation, we find that many of those in authority who drag their feet on implementation of renewables have somehow missed the ‘jobs’ argument. Strange, since for elected officials, large-scale job creation can flesh out their re-election CV nicely. And there are few initiatives outside the renewable energy industry that hold the promise of such large numbers of good jobs; not only that, but most of the potential new jobs are in small-to-medium sized firms and start-ups, another category that lawmakers like to be seen to encourage.

Assemblywoman Law deserves our praise for introducing this bill, and our support as the bill progresses through the legislature. If you’re a Michigan solar citizen, we’ll let you know when you can help to give the bill an extra push!

Read more about the Michigan bill here.