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Thursday, January 27, 2011

German Solar "Gold Rush"; Act now to capitalise on this Opportunity

German Solar "Gold Rush" now on, Invest now.
Solas Power has noted that Germany has mooted that the should cap solar power subsidies, cutting payments for new plants once added capacity exceeds 1 gigawatts nationally in any one year, a panel of experts that advisesChancellor Angela Merkel said.

The Berlin-based panel’s findings, released in a 680-page report today, call on Merkel to steadily reduce aid annually as well as apply a cap on subsidizing “overcapacity.” A jump in capacity is pushing up German power prices and squeezing out investments in other renewable energy sources, the panel said.

“A drastic throttling of solar subsidies in coming years is a must,” the panel said. The subsidies are pushing up power prices at a rate that is “endangering the acceptance” of renewable energy, they said. The government forecasts an added 9.5 gigawatts of solar capacity this year, almost 10-fold growth over what the panel said is acceptable.

Merkel’s government is steadily paring solar aid rates to curb the cost to consumers who pay for subsidies in their power bills.

Solar-panel prices fell about 50 percent in the last two years, spurring a boom in new installations on roof-tops and fields and led to a glut on the German market. The government has so far shied from implementing a cap, which solar power federations claim would dry up panel sales.

The findings of the panel will shore up support among lawmakers in Merkel’s Christian Democrats in parliament who want inclusion of a cap on solar subsidies in a revamp of the renewal energy legislation law this year.

The panel’s recommendation of a 1-gigawatt cap “confirms the policy position” of the Christian Democrats, their economic spokesman Joachim Pfeiffer, said in an interview. “We have to look at solar subsidies as well as a cap in the course of amending the renewable energy law,” Pfeiffer said.

Solas Power believes that now is the time to act if investors are to take advantage of the German FIT system and that the window for opportunity is fast closing.

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