pic: Thomas RocheIf a private members bill being put before parliament very soon is successful, it will provide for the establishment of a feed-in tariff in South Africa.

A feed-in tariff allows people who are producing electricity (of an approved standard) from renewable sources to feed it into the grid and be paid for it. The bill suggests a tariff fixed for 15 to 25 years which may be up to 4 or 5 times the standard tariff.

This policy was adopted in Germany in law in 2003 and if you were to go there you could see the change the policy has made. It is hard to find a roof without a solar panel on it. This is because all of a sudden the economics of purchasing a solar panel change dramatically in its favour because you can guarantee a pay back on the cost of the installation. This means that businesses and private people can easily make a financial case for the installation and can easily get a loan for it.

In Germany, this has resulted in a vibrant alternative energy sector, which has employed many people and driven the costs of the technology down.

We have so much sun here - isn't it time we stopped wasting it?

This would apply to solar photovoltaic on roofs, solar water heaters, wind turbines, small scale hydro power, biomass, bio diesel, geothermal, concentrated solar thermal power stations and any other smart idea that does not include coal, petrol or nuclear.

The Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff Bill (REFIT) is a private members bill which they hope will speed up the process.

Please email a note of support to either Ruth Rabinowitz (IFP), Gareth Morgan (DA), Lance Greyling (ID) or Judy Chalmers (ANC),
stating your name, telephone number, fax (if you have one) and email address and a note saying why you support REFIT.

You can email it to one of these addresses:
Dr Ruth Rabinowitz (IFP) reureka at iafrica.com
Gareth Morgan (DA) morgan at da.org.za
Lance Greyling (ID) lanceg at id.org.za
Judy Chalmers (ANC) jchalmer at mweb.co.za

(just replace the at with @ and take the spaces out, written like this to avoid spam)

And tell your friends!!!

[Media statement by IFP]