Germans scrap FIT reduction

The German government scrapped plans to reduce subsidized power prices paid for photovoltaic energy in July because new installations fell short of the level needed to trigger a cut.

About 700 megawatts of solar modules were installed in March through May and more than 875 megawatts would have been necessary to force a reduction, the Federal Network Agency said today in a statement. Under a law passed in January, the forecast for the year based on these three months needed to be more than 3.5 gigawatts to demand the July cut. Rates are still set to be reduced by as much as 24 percent in January 2012.

“The implications are significant,” Jenny Chase, lead solar analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in an e- mail. “Chances are that by postponing the one-off cut, the government will ensure another year of 6 gigawatts to 7 gigawatts, overshooting its target again, and the cut will happen in the third quarter instead.”

Germany, the world’s largest solar market, installed 7.4 gigawatts of solar power last year as developers were spurred by its subsidized rate for clean energy known as a feed-in-tariff. The government had planned in July to advance 3 to 15 percent of the cut scheduled January 2012 to prevent a similar boom.

The new installation figures show that there is no room for further cuts to solar subsidies, according to Carsten Koernig, managing director of BSW, the German solar industry trade group. The industry hopes to install 5 gigawatts of solar capacity in Germany this year, he said by phone today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Marc Roca in London at mroca6@bloomberg.net; Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-16/germany-won-t-cut-subsidies-for-solar-panels-starting-after-july.html

Germany FIT not to be reduced for 2011

Germany’s Federal Environment Ministry has confirmed that the installed photovoltaic capacity between March and May of this year amounts to around 700 megawatts. Nevertheless, the economic wing still wants to cap the market.

While it looks like Germany's photovoltaic FITs won't be cut, there is uncertainty over how much installed capacity will be added throughout the year.

The feed-in tariffs in Germany won’t be cut on July 1. "Only 700 MW were installed," Environment Secretary Katherina Reiche (CDU) told Thursday’s Financial Times Deutschland. This figure has been confirmed by the Germany grid agency (Bundesnetzagentur).

As such, expectations are that a projected 2.8 gigawatts will be installed throughout 2011. This figure falls rather short of industry expectations, however, as pv magazine heard during this year’s Intersolar Europe, held last week in Munich, that between 4.5 to five GW worth of photovoltaic systems will be installed this year.

Furthermore, analysts at Jefferies & Company believe that between five and six GW could be installed. In an industry note issued, they commented: "Our estimates are still for 5.5 GW this year in Germany. We recently polled some 50 industry participants throughout the value chain at Intersolar in Munich last week with consensus sticking to five to six GW for the year."

If just 2.8 GW are installed, this would even be less capacity than the government had originally envisioned in its targets, which had projected between three and 3.5 GW.

"The clear market decrease in the past months shows that no clearance exists for a still faster sinking of solar electricity," explained Carsten Körnig, managing director of Germany’s solar association, BSW-Solar. He warned the government, with an eye on the upcoming amendments to Germany’s renewable energy law (EEG), against further cutting the country’s solar incentives.

German Solar FIT may be reduced by 9% on the 1st July

Solas Power has learned that a decision by the German Federal Network Agency as to the scale of the downward revision is yet to be announced, some predictions are that the final scheduled reduction will amount to a nine percent cut on July 1, followed by another on January 1, 2010.

Just last week German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Norbert Röttgen, announced that solar subsidies were to be cut by a further six percent as of March 1, 2012. This reduction had found its way into amendments to the EEG during the departmental approval process. However, reports are that Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a free hand to members of the ruling coalition parties during consultation, and the unscheduled six percent cuts were removed.

This morning the Cabinet of the German federal government discussed and approved the EEG amendments, at the same time deciding to abandon nuclear energy. The result is a phased shutdown of nuclear power plants in Germany by the year 2022.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Committee of the Lower House of Parliament will discuss the amendments to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG). Experts on the topic will then be heard during the public meeting. The law will then be discussed in the Lower House of Parliament and – according to government plans – is to be adopted even before the summer parliamentary recess. Approval by the Upper House of Parliament is not required for the EEG amendments.