The Town of Banff has gone where no other town in Canada has gone before. They have created a municipal feed-in tariff, supporting installation of solar PV on residences throughout the community. The feed-in tariff ensures that residents and businesses get a fair rate of return for investing in clean energy production. Specifically, it provides them with a $1,400 annual incentive for seven years on a 4kw solar system, offsetting the cost of investing in the technology.
The initiative was enabled by an innovative funding mechanism, which deposits the rents collected from utilities for running their infrastructure under city streets into an environmental reserve fund, rather than counting it as general revenue. The reserve fund has been used for LED streetlights, waterless urinals, hybrid buses and solar installations on public buildings. Now the reserve fund is supporting installation of 165 watts of solar PV.