Market
Announcement
Monday 21 May 2012
Victorian Government review supports feed in tariffs for fuel cells
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. 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: