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Germany: PV FITs to fall 2.5% following nearly 1 GW of new installs

Newly installed photovoltaics in Germany amounted to nearly one GW in September, and 1.85 GW between July and September. Consequently, it is now clear that the feed-in tariffs (FITs) will be reduced by 2.5% a month for the next three months.

Germany has an installed photovoltaic capacity of over 31 GW.

Enerparc

Germany’s Federal Network Agency has finally released its photovoltaic installation figures for September. On the back of high activity, the FITs will be reduced by 2.5% in November, December and January, respectively. After January, the value will again be recalculated on the basis of further installations.

According to the agency, newly installed photovoltaic systems reached 980.83 MW in September. In addition to releasing the new figures, it also slightly revised the installation totals for July and August, meaning that between July and September, 1.85 GW of photovoltaic plants have been installed.

"The expansion of photovoltaic systems is still high. In September alone, they amounted to nearly one GW," said Jochen Homann, president of the network agency. "For the considered period, the specified installation corridor, which measures the electricity from photovoltaic systems, was around 3.9 GW."

As such, the FITs will be reduced to €0.1702/kWh from €0.1790 for small photovoltaic systems up to 10 kW in January. For systems up to 40 kW, a fee of €0.1614/kWh will be paid in January, instead of the current €0.1698. Meanwhile, plants up to one MW will receive just €0.1440/kWh instead of €0.1515, and parks between one and 10 MW will receive €0.1178/kWh, down from €0.1239.

According to the agency, Germany installed 6.12 GW of photovoltaics by the end of Q3, meaning total cumulative capacity is now sitting at over 31 GW.

Translated and edited by Becky Beetz.