EEG

Large solar parks awarded contracts under Germany’s tender scheme could lose funding if not brought online on time. The nation’s solar trade body believes the government should quadruple its annual PV deployment target despite an anticipated coronavirus-related hiatus in roll-out.

The cumulative capacity of subsidized PV systems in Germany reached 49,425 MW at the end of January. Under the nation’s triggered FIT reduction regime the tariff – and income from electricity sold directly to off-takers – will fall 1.4% this month.

After a strong start to the year, demand for PV systems has slowed because of FIT reductions. Solar subsidies will fall by a further 1.4% per month until November.

In the first four months of the year, over 1.6 GW of solar power generation capacity came online in the country. Next month the FITs for rooftop PV will fall by 1.4%.

As expected, Germany’s second chamber of parliament has passed a new package of laws. They will enter into force on January 1, 2019. Among the the changes are the extraordinary FIT cuts for rooftop systems between 40 and 750 kW in size for February, March and April, and new tenders for wind and solar totaling 4 GW.

While installations up to 750 kW continue to grow, compared to June, overall capacity slightly decreased. This is due to the fact less utility-scale projects were commissioned in July, compared to the preceding month. Solar subsidies will decrease by another percentage point in September.

Germany’s Federal Network Agency has awarded 38 bids in the first PV tender under the EEG 2017. The average bid price fell lower than the pilot tenders, reaching €0.0658 per kWh.