July 6, 2011. Feed-in tariffs, used to support renewable energy development in Germany, the U.K. and more than 40 other countries, "distort" markets and there are no plans to use them in Alberta, the Canadian province’s energy minister said. Feed-in tariffs have been used for more than a decade in much of Europe to encourage the development of renewable energy and have helped make Germany the world’s largest producer of solar power. Electricity and heat generated from sunshine, wind and biofuels must compete on price with fossil fuels, without government incentives. Alberta is home to the world’s third-largest reserves of crude in addition to coal and natural gas, and has almost 1 gigawatt of installed wind-power capacity, the most in Canada. The western province is also working with other Canadian regions and the federal government to craft a national energy policy. Ontario, the nation’s most populous province, is the only one that has a large-scale feed-in tariff policy. Canada’s energy plan will involve coordinating policies on energy consumption, transmission and eventually carbon emissions. Canada has committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, in line with a target set by U.S. climate change negotiators at United Nations talks. A system of cap-and-trade, which limits the total emissions of greenhouse gases and allows emitters to trade permits to pollute, has "fallen off the back burner" in the U.S. A tax on carbon has "worked well" in Alberta, where large emitters are charged C$15 ($15.58) a ton. The money goes into a fund to support clean energy technology. Taxes on carbon may be a solution for a federal energy strategy.