The Portuguese national solar association, Apisolar, has insinuated expectations of a 30% decrease in newly installed collector areas this year due to changes in solar subsidies.
According to PV industry magazine, Photon, on January 5, government ministers decided to halt subsidies for large installations, however the decision has not yet been incorporated into regulations governing the subsidy scheme.
Apisolar’s vice president Joao Carvalho said, “In 2012 we only expect new PV projects of microgeneration and minigeneration – systems up to 250 kW – to be allocated in Portugal.”
However, for solar thermal systems the government has decided to raise the VAT rate on renewable energies to the maximum of 23% – until now, the rate had been 13%. The decision is included in the official State’s Budget for 2012 report, which has recently been approved by the Portuguese Parliament and can possibly be concluded that restrictions on PV installations will be fairly close behind.
