Mar 1 2010
The German government has announced that it is planning to reduce its incentives for rooftop solar electricity by 16% from 1st of July and totally do away with the support provided for converted farmlands.
The 16% cut in the feed-in-tariff is for rooftop photovoltaic installations. A cut of 11% in incentives is proposed for converted sites such as previous army bases and dumps, while support for non-agricultural areas will decline by 15%. According to Christian Social Union’s leader in parliament, Hans-Peter Friedrich, farmlands will be totally exempted, which until now also were eligible for incentives.
The feed-in-tariff support provided in Germany has made the country the biggest market for photovoltaic system installations representing about half of $24.45 billion worth of total installations in the global market in 2009. A record new capacity of 3 GW was added in 2009 bringing the total installed capacity in the country to approximately 9 GW.
In January, the feed-in-tariffs was cut by 9% and ever since the centre-left government created the Renewable Energy Act in 2000, the incentives have declined by 8% to 10% every year.
SolarWorld SWVG.DE, the largest solar company in the country by sales, and Q-Cells QCEG.DE, a largest solar cell manufacturer in the world were of the view that the cuts proposed by the government will lead to jobs cuts in Germany too fast, too steep.
Source: http://www.qcells.de