Abstract
In order to resolving climate change and energy security issues, one of the promising technology solutions is photovoltaic (PV). So far, the dominant policy measures and paradigm have been evolved from net-metering and/or investment grants to feed in tariff (FIT), renewable portfolio standards or tendering scheme. Of them, FIT promoted by the second comer of Germany has become the most successful and prevailing approach to promote PV around the globe. However, it also lead to the unexpected PV boom and over-development in most FIT countries and a lot of reform measures were introduced. This article seeks to overview the historical development of FIT scheme in major FIT countries including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, UK over the past decades, their implementation, and identify the specific reformed design elements during different round of FIT reform. Surprisingly, after such a deep investigation, it is possible to predict the next move of FIT reform in each country and to evaluate if the reform extent is too over or too less. Such a delicate step-by-step Guidance may also be helpful for late and prospective FIT comers to fine-tune their scheme and to promote the sustainable development of PV.