The Future of Renewables: An Appraisal of Feed-in-Tariffs and Renewable Portfolio Standards

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Chaturvedi, Ipshita^a

Affiliations: [a] BA, LLB (Hons) - WB National University of Juridical Sciences. LLM - The University of Melbourne. Ipshita works at the Strategic Foresight Group on water diplomacy in the middle-east. Special thanks to her four year old who let her finish the article.

Abstract: In recent years, a strong interest in renewable energy and supporting policies have burgeoned. The most popular of these are Renewable Portfolio Standards and Feed-in-Tariff systems. A policy of choice may be implemented by an entire country such as Feed-in-Tariffs in Germany and Japan and/or could be state-specific within a country. This article studies the existing literature to understand the theoretical and normative workings of both policies and argues that while both policies together and/or separately have proven pros and cons, the future of renewables must depend on case-specific factors. One size usually does not fit all, certainly not when determining a renewables future. While a basic policy may be determined, the nuances have to be localized depending on a country and state’s tax structure, renewable energy availability and other such factors.

DOI: 10.3233/RED-120112

Journal: Journal of Resources, Energy and Development, vol. 11, no. 1-2, pp. 55-64, 2014