Germany: Monthly FIT degression remains at 1.8%

31 JULY 2013

Germany added some 300 MW of new photovoltaic capacity in June, according to the German Federal Network Agency. Hence, monthly FIT reductions of 1.8% will apply for the months of August, September and October.

The German Federal Network Agency has published the PV additions for the month of June, showing that a newly registered total capacity of 309.24 MW. This brings the total installed PV capacity for the first half of the year in Germany to 1.79 GW. The capacity expansion seems to have leveled off and the federal government is seemingly on the way to achieve its goal of limiting new installation figures in Germany to 2.5 GW to 3.5 GW annually. In the past years the newly installed PV capacity in Germany was about 7.5 GW per year.

The Agency will take the newly installed PV systems figures between July 2012 and June 2013 as the basis for further reductions. The period saw nearly 4.99 GW of newly added PV capacity in Germany. Hence the tariffs will be lowered further by 1.8% in August, September and October.

In August PV operators for systems up to 10 kW will receive €0.148 per kWh. For systems between 10 to 40 kW, the tariff will sink to €0.1404 per kWh. For larger rooftop PV systems up to 1 MW, €0.1252 per kWh will be offered. Solar plants between 1 and 10 MW will receive a subsidy of €0.1025 per kWh. With the other already established reductions the subsidies for large systems will fall below ten cents per kWh. In October this figure will be €0.0988 per kWh. For smaller rooftop systems the subsidies will fall in October to €0.1208 to €0.1427 per kWh according to the Agency.

The monthly decrease of PV FITs has eliminated the phenomenon of "clearance sales" and "end-of-year rallies"-- as seen previously prior to such reductions. The capacity increase in the first half of the year only varied slightly. The largest addition came in April at 367 MW. The lowest figure was recorded for February at 210.7 MW. However, the Federal Network Agency's newly published figures appear to indicate that there is currently no financing model for solar parks bigger than 10 MW. Germany's revamped renewable energy law (EEG) last year eliminated subsidies for projects in this range. There were likewise no new installations of this order in June. The largest installation among the 11,627 newly registered PV systems had a rated power of 9.99 MW.