From pv magazine Germany.
Germany’s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, has reported newly installed PV capacity of approximately 349.5 MW for March.
Of that capacity, 334 MW were installed under the country’s FIT mechanism. The Bonn-based Bundesnetzagentur reported 28 MW of ground-mounted systems were built in March outside the tender scheme. A meager 868 kW of rooftop system capacity was installed under the tenant electricity scheme.
Overall, around 1.27 GW of new PV capacity was added in Germany in the first three months of the year, even with the Bundesnetzagentur revising down its January and February figures by 40 MW each, to 540 MW and 380 MW, respectively. An agency spokesperson told pv magazine the figures are regularly adjusted retrospectively.
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The revised statistics mean Germany reached a cumulative solar capacity of just short of 47.2 GW by the end of March.
The Bundesnetzagentur has recalculated the level of FIT payment for the next three months, with the payment falling as installation milestones are reached. Larger-than-expected levels of new installations in the first quarter mean the FIT will reduce by 1.4% from this month until July.
The feed-in tariff for PV systems with a capacity of up to 10 kW will fall to €0.1095/kWh. For systems up to 40 kW the payment will be €0.1065/kWh and for systems up to 100 kW, €0.0838/kWh. Other plants with a capacity of up to 100 kW will receive a fixed €0.0759/kWh.
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The 53 GW cap on subsidised solar will probably led to a growing rush to beat the deadline, as has happened with the sunsetted ITC and PTC tax credits in the USA.
Germany offers an interesting example of negative learning in PV policy. For the first decade of the EEG, the gradual and predictable declines in the FIT offered a model to the rest of the world, Since then German policy has converged in style with British, with feckless U-turns and ever-changing targets and deadlines.