But residents with solar panels may have to wait up to a year before the legislation comes into effect.

Residents who produce solar power will be paid nearly 60c for every kilowatt-hour of electricity they generate, a payment known as a ''feed-in tariff''.

Labor backbencher Mick Gentleman, who introduced the legislation, said the Government would have to implement the laws no later than July next year.

The actual start of the legislation would depend on how quickly government agencies could set up regulations for the Act.

Mr Gentleman said, ''Some parts of the legislation will be up and running today. It's only the regulations that determine how agencies will act that need to be written up. I hope that it will be up and running as soon as possible.''

But Greens MLA Deb Foskey said the possible delay in implementing the scheme, coupled with the Federal Government's decision to slash its solar rebate program, could discourage residents from committing themselves to renewable energy.

''We know people are already getting ready for the feed-in tariff, and with the means-testing of the federal government grant on solar panels, that feed-in tariff was going to see those people through. Now we're going to see it put off until July next year.'' Mr Gentleman said the feed-in tariff was the most generous scheme in Australia and would pay residents for the gross amount of electricity they produced.

Other schemes paid residents only for the net amount of renewable energy produced, leaving them out of pocket unless they could generate surplus electricity to feed back into the city grid. The feed-in tariff would be paid for by a scaled levy on electricity users, with heavy commercial users paying more than residential users.

Dr Foskey said the laws needed to be coupled with targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

''It really does raise concerns about whether this is just a feel-good exercise,'' she said.

But Mr Gentleman said the Government already had emissions targets in place and the feed-in tariff would work in coordination with those targets.

The tariff is calculated at 3.88 times the ''transitional franchise'' rate of electricity.

The transitional franchise tariff is determined by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, which sets prices for electricity, gas and water in Canberra.

It is now set at 15.2c a kilowatt-hour.

Conservation Council spokeswoman Genevieve Wauchope hailed the new laws, saying they made Canberra the ''solar capital'' of Australia.

She urged the Federal Government to implement the ACT scheme as part of a national framework on solar feed-in tariffs.