Feed-in-tariffs – an Australian case study Nithya Saiprasad 1* , Akhtar Kalam 2 , Aladin Zayegh 1 1 College of Engineering & Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia 2 Smart Energy Research Unit, College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3011, Australia Corresponding Author Email: nithya.saiprasad@live.vu.edu.au https://doi.org/10.18280/mmc_d.390103 Received: 10 December 2017 Accepted: 5 April 2018 ABSTRACT Australia has been striving hard to meet the Renewable energy Target (RET). Every state in Australia has been contributing to meet RET. The Australian government has introduced energy policies to aid the adaption of renewable energy, including feed in tariffs (FiTs). The impact of FiTs in the renewable energy economics for an Australian scenario has been analyzed in this study. A university set up has been considered and the economics for optimally sized renewable energy resources is examined. In this paper the economic impact for the consumers on adapting grid connected renewable energy sources and the effect of FiTs has been analysed for the university building. The advantages and disadvantages have been scrutinized and suggestions for further improvements in FiTs for Australian scenario has been suggested. Keywords: feed-in-tariff, renewable energy, economics, renewable energy target 1. INTRODUCTION Global population explosion has a direct impact on the energy deficit. While most of the energy in the world is met through fossil fuels, attention has focused on renewable energy in recent years [1]. Renewable energy has taken a new dimension globally to address the global warming issue. Most of the countries around the world have put forth their share of renewable energy by exploring its available resources. Australia is one of the players in this race. Other countries like USA, China, Germany, Portugal, Spain, India etc. are also working on renewable energy adaption by executing various plans through their energy policies scheme [2]. The services provided in such schemes include discounts and rebates for the customers and thus promoting the renewable energy acquisition. The government of such countries have come up with a plan in the form of Renewable energy target (RET), by setting up a roadmap through Renewable energy policies either by materialising the new strategic plan by revising the existing Renewable energy policies or introducing a new set of policies. The country’s RET is met with the help of its individual state or local Governments. Australia is working to similar criteria. In this regard, the Government of Australia has introduced various schemes and policies including Clean Energy Innovation Fund, Renewable Energy Power Percentage, Renewable Energy Certificates, Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs), Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) etc. [3]. This paper largely focuses on Australia’s RET and the FiTs introduced by the government authorities to aid in achieving country’s RET. In this regard, this study focuses on understanding the advantage of FiTs for Renewable Energy adaption. FiTs in general has provided incentives for renewable energy integration to the grid. The availability of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has become competitive such that FiTs have been tailored to assist in easier RE deployment [4]. The Government bodies fix the tariff price often, and the revenue is generated for every kWh of energy which is being “fed” into the grid. There are more than 75 countries using FiTs as the support to exploit renewable energy [5]. Typically, FiTs are fixed according to the technology and are revised in a timely manner by the government’s organisation. Studies suggest that FiTs act as a booster for renewable energy (RE) technologies to evolve over time [6]. To embrace this technological evolution with economical ease, FiTs act as a catalyst between the manufacturer and consumer. Meanwhile, some studies also suggest that FiTs could have a negative impact on the RE market [1, 7]. Though FiTs help in maturity of the RE technology, one of the greatest threats it could face would be that the guaranteed returns the customer earns may lead to less competition amongst and diminish the technological growth. This could lead to lower capital costs of the RES, which could result in lower rebates on RES. Australian wholesale electricity market known as the National Electricity Market (NEM) is a major contributor to Australia’s total green-house gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for up to one-third of total emissions. This is because it heavily relies on coal to produce electricity. The coal used is of bituminous and lignite variety which are very heavy emitters of GHG. This makes Australia one of the highest per capita GHG emitters. Thus, to make a significant contribution to reducing emissions, the entire energy sector must decline to zero net emissions by 2050 [8, 9]. Complementing this fact, Australian energy consumption and GHG emission trend has put forward an increase to 14% by 2020 in university buildings (compared to other commercial buildings); their GHG emissions from such university buildings will rank second compared to other buildings and hospitals [10]. This major contribution of GHG emissions from such buildings can be minimized by implementing RES for energy production using solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cells etc. In 2016, Australia’s contribution from RES expanded due Modelling, Measurement and Control D Vol. 39, No. 1, December, 2018, pp. 15-24 Journal homepage: http://iieta.org/Journals/MMC/MMC_D 15