Fuel Cells Feed in Tariff

Victorian Government review supports feed in tariffs for fuel cells 

Fuel Cells - Renewables plus Low Emissions

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) – a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation products for homes and other buildings – is pleased to announce that the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission (VCEC) has recommended that feed in tariffs be extended to include small scale low emissions generators like fuel cells.

The draft report by VCEC, released on Friday 18 May, recommends that Victoria’s solar PV feed in tariff be broadened to include all low-emissions and renewable technologies, with a requirement that electricity retailers must offer a wholesale price based feed in tariff for distributed generation of 100 kilowatts or less.

Feed-in tariffs are payments to distributed generators for electricity generated at their premises and fed back into the power grid. VCEC recommends that the feed in tariff be based on the wholesale price for electricity.

Fuel Cells - Displace coal-fired power

A report commissioned by VCEC notes that this value varies depending on time, location, and the type of generation technology. The report estimates that currently this value is approximately seven cents per kilowatt hour.

Ceramic Fuel Cells’ BlueGen gas to electricity generator would be eligible for this feed in tariff, making Victoria the first State in Australia to provide a feed in tariff for fuel cells. BlueGen customers already receive feed in tariffs in Germany and the United Kingdom.

The VCEC draft report adopts several recommendations made by Ceramic Fuel Cells in our submission and consultation with VCEC, including:

• Extending the standard feed in tariff regime to include small scale low emissions technologies;
• Defining ‘small scale’ as 100 kilowatts or less;
• Defining ‘low emission’ as 50 percent or lower than the emissions intensity of the national electricity network;
• Simplifying the process for connecting small scale generators to the power grid.

Read the full CFCL Market Announcement ...

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