Incentives have been essential in encouraging a paradigm shift in the way energy is obtained, valued and used in the United States and in other parts of the globe. Energy independence, energy security and resiliency, energy responsibility and energy efficiency are drivers for state and federal incentives for stationary fuel cells.
Stationary fuel cells bridge the environmental and energy goals established by policy makers with consumers" need to save energy and money.
Federal Tax Credit (stationary fuel cells)
The Federal Investment Tax Credit (FITC) can provide a tax credit of up to 30% of the total project cost for qualifying installations in the United States. The FITC is set to expire in 2016.
For more information, please visit:
http://energy.gov/savings/business-energy-investment-tax-credit-itc State Level Programs and Benefits for Stationary Fuel Cells
California
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides incentives to support existing, new, and emerging distributed energy resources. The SGIP provides rebates for qualifying distributed energy systems installed on the customer's side of the utility meter and is currently administered by the four investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in California. The program has an approved budget of $83M per year through 2014 and an approved program timeline through 2016. The total budget is split among the IOU"s and "renewable/emerging" and "non-renewable" categories.
The funding is subject to a 40% limit per manufacturer. Fuel cells on natural gas receive an incentive of $2,025/kW for 2013.
For more information, please visit:
San Diego Gas & Electric
Southern California Edison
Southern California Gas
Pacific Gas & Electric
Connecticut
The Low Emissions Renewable Energy Credit (LREC) program is a reverse auction for low emission projects. The projects with the lowest cost per kWh over a 15-year contract term (signed with the utility) are selected until the program budget is met for the year.
For more information, please visit:
Connecticut Light & Power
United Illuminating
New Jersey
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities provides funding for two fuel cell and combined heat and power programs, a small program (<1MW) and a large program (≥1MW).Both small and large programs are open enrollment with set budgets and program requirements. The programs vary in program administrator, budget allocation and system efficiency requirements. For the small program, a majority of the incentive is paid prior to operation (~80%); the remaining 20% is performance based. For the large program, the funding is not performance based; 100% is paid by the commercial operation date of the system.
Projects in the small program can receive up to $2M or 60% of project cost.
Projects in the large program can receive up to $3M or 45% of project cost.
For more information, please visit:
Small (<1MW) Program
Large (>1MW) Program
New York
Fuel cells qualify under the customer-sited tier of the NY Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Funding may be applied for through the Program Opportunity Notice (PON) 2157 Financial incentives are available to support the installation and operation of continuous duty fuel cell systems in New York State, with up to $1 million available for fuel cell systems rated larger than 25 kW and $50,000 available for fuel cell systems rated at 25 kW or less.. A portion of the $1M is a performance based incentive with a maximum payout of $300,000 per year for the first 3 years of operation.
For more information, please visit:
NYSERDA PON 2157
Pennsylvania
The Alternative and Clean Energy Program (ACE) provides financial assistance in the form of grant and loan funds for the development and installation of alternative and clean energy projects in the state. Fuel cells that run on natural gas qualify, in addition to several other types of distributed generation, energy efficiency and clean technology. The program is administered jointly by the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the direction of the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA).
Funding is available for fuel cell projects with no maximum project size and is limited to $2M or 30% of project cost. Project funding is also subjective and requires DCED board approval.
For more information, please visit:
Alternative Clean Energy Program
International Markets
Korea - Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS): 2012 – 2022
The RPS mandate requires utilities to generate a percentage of their power from renewable sources, specifically, wind, solar, biomass and fuel cells. If a utility fails to meet this mandate, fines are assessed for non-compliance. Measures are also in place for government buildings and large energy users to invest in on-site renewable power generation.
Korean utilities are required to obtain 2% 2% of power generation in 2012 from renewable sources and increasing by 0.5% each year through 2015, then by 1% per year reaching 10% by 2022.