Legislation Promoting CSP Implementation

• Within its policy of climate and environment protection, the Algerian Ministry for Energy and Mines fully supports the objective of the CSP Global Market Initiative (GMI) to facilitate and expedite the building of 5,000 MWe of CSP worldwide over the next ten years. The Government of Algeria has committed itself to develop solar energy as its largest renewable energy source, to cover 5% of the national electricity needs by 2010 with renewables. The Government of Algeria sees ideal opportunities of combining Algeria’s richest fossil energy source – the natural gas – with Algeria’s most abundant renewable energy source – the sun – by integrating concentrating solar power into natural gas combined cycles. Incentive premiums for CSP projects are granted within the framework of Algeria’s Decree 04-92 of March 25th, 2004 relating to the costs of diversification of the electricity production. The incentive premiums of this decree shall attract private investors to implement integrated solar combined cycle plants in Algeria. According to the current power expansion planning of the Ministry for Energy and Mines, the capacity targets for CSP power implementation in Algeria are 500 MW of new ISCCS plants until 2010. With these CSP targets and the new Decree 04-92, Algeria has established the GMI commitment on national solar thermal power market implementation.

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Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources in the Internal Electricity Market

• On October 27th, 2001 the "Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market" was set in force. For the purposes of this Directive renewable energy sources means renewable non-fossil energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydro-power, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases). Electricity produced from renewable energy sources therein means electricity produced by plants using only renewable energy sources, as well as the proportion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in hybrid plants also using conventional energy sources and including renewable electricity used for filling storage systems, and excluding electricity produced as a result of storage systems.

   

• A new feed-in tariff for solar electricity was published in France on July 26, 2006, granting 0.30 €/kWh (0.40 €/kWh in overseas) plus extra 0.25 €/kWh if integrated to building (+0.15 €/kWh in overseas). This tariff is limited to solar only installations with less than 12MW capacity and less than 1500hours/year operation. For production over this limit the tariff is 0.05 €/kWh.

   

• Law 3468/2006 Generation Of Electricity Using Renewable Energy Sources And High-Efficiency Cogeneration Of Electricity And Heat And Miscellaneous Provisions (Official Gazette A’ 129) was published in 2006 and grants solar energy exploited in units employing a technology other than that of photovoltaics with an installed capacity up to five (5) MWe 0.23 €/kWh on the main land and 0.25 €/kWh on non-interconnected islands

• A decisive breakthrough in the development of sustainable energy provision has been achieved with the adoption of the Renewable Energy Sources Act ("Act on Granting Priority to Renewable Energy Sources"). Having been passed by the German Bundestag on February 25, 2000, the act received the approval of the Bundesrat (upper chamber) on 17 March.
  By guaranteeing compensatory payments down to the last pfennig per kWh, the act restores a secure climate for investment. This remunerative arrangement is made available for a period of up to twenty years per plant, with the exception of hydroelectricity installations, which require longer amortisation periods. In addition, we have incorporated degressive steps, starting in 2002, for plants coming on line then. The law also offers scope for altering the compensation rates for future installations if necessary. This remuneration system does not mean the abandonment of market principles, but only creates the security needed for investment under present market conditions. There is adequate provision to safeguard the future existence of all the plants already in operation.

• The Israel Ministry of National Infrastructures, which is responsible for the energy sector, decided in 2002 to introduce to the Israel electricity market CSP as a strategic ingredient, with a minimal power unit of 100 MWe. There is an option to increase the CSP contribution up to 500 MWe at a later stage, after the successful operation of the first unit. A feasibility study about the necessary incentive premiums for CSP in Israel had been completed in 2003 and was evaluated by the Israel Public Utilities Authority (PUA) for the formulation of a feed-in law for CSP and other renewable energy technologies. A site for the first 100MW was identified and approved, providing space for up to 500MW. In 2006, Israeli PUA’s New Feed-in Incentives For Solar-Driven IPPs were published, being valid as from September 3rd, 2006 for a 20 years period. For plants with installed capacity larger than 20 MWe the tariff for the solar part only is app. 16.3 UScents/kWh (Nov.2006). Maximum allowed fossil back-up is 30% of the energy produced in the plant. For smaller plants below 20MW in the range of 100 kW to 20 MW for the first 20 years period the tariff is app. 20.4 UScents /kWhe (Nov.2006)

• A new feed-in tariff for solar electricity was published in Portugal in 2007, granting 0.27 €/kWh for CSP plants up to 10MW and 0.16-0.20 €/kWh for CSP plants beyond 10MW.

Spanish Royal Decrees 2818/1998, 841/2002, 436/2004 and 661/2007

• The Spanish Law 54/1197, of November 27th 1997, on the Spanish Electricity Sector, established the principles of a new model of operation that bases production on free competition. 
  The  Royal Decree 2818 of 1998 develops Law 54/1997 on the Electricity Sector with the modifications introduced by Law 66/1997 of December 30th on Fiscal, Administrative and Corporate Measures and promotes the development of facilities under a special legal system through the creation of a favorable framework without incurring in discriminatory situations that could limit free competition, while establishing differentiated situations for those energy systems that contribute more efficiently to the above mentioned objectives. For facilities based on renewable or waste energies, this incentive has no time limit, since their environmental benefits must be internalized and, due to their special characteristics and level of technology, their considerable cost does not allow them to compete on the free market. The incentives which are established for renewable energies are such that they are going to enable their contribution to the Spanish energy demand to be a minimum of 12 per cent in the year 2010 as established in the Sixteenth Transitional Provision of Law 54/1997 of November 27th on the Electricity Sector.
   

• The 38^th additional provision to Law 14/2000, of December 29^th, on Fiscal, Administrative and Corporate Measures, extends the allowance that incentive premiums may exceed the top of 90% of the medium electricity price to solar thermal installations. To apply such a premium to this type of installations in accordance with its necessity of incentives, in Royal Decree 841/2002, the Royal Decree 2818/1998 of December 23^rd is modified, distinguishing in group b.1, where installations that use only solar energy as primary energy are classified, between two groups, i.e. group b.1.1. for installations that use photovoltaic solar energy as primary energy and group b.1.2. that use solar thermal energy as primary energy, thereby voiding the assignment made in Royal Decree 1955/2000, of December 1^st .
   

• On March 27th, 2004, the Royal Decree 436/2004 improves the incentives for the first 200MW of solar thermal electricity production in Spain considerably. Solar thermal electricity generators who cede their production to the distributor may receive as fixed tariff 300% of the reference price during the first 25 years after their startup and 240% afterwards. Solar thermal electricity generators who sell their electricity on the free market may receive as premium 250% of the reference price during the first 25 years after their startup and 200% afterwards plus an incentive of 10%. The average electric tariff or reference for the year 2004, defined in the Article 2 of Real Decreto 1432/2002, of December 27, has a value of 7.2072 EuroCent/kWh.  This decree also quantifies the utilization of gas for auxiliary firing: The subgroup b.1.2. installations, which utilize as primary energy for the generation of electricity the solar thermal energy, may use auxiliar equipments which consume natural gas or propane only for maintaining the temperature of the heat storage. The consumption of said fuel, in annual computation, must be inferior to the 12% of the electricity production and only during the periods of interruption of the electricity generation, if the installation cedes the electricity to the power distribution company at fixed tariff. Said percentage may reach 15%, without time restrictions of use, if the installation sells its electricity freely in the market.

• Those feed-in tariff regulations have been refined with the recent Royal Decree 661 from 2007. Basic change with respect to RD436 is the decoupling from the market reference price, which increased with oil price increases and automatically increased renewable tariffs with the oil price. A fixed tariff of 0.269375Euro/kWh is granted for CSP plants up to 50MW for 25years, increasing yearly with inflation minus 1 percent point. The CSP target was increased to 500MW by 2010.