The Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's Federal Network Agency, will cut the country's solar feed-in tariff (FiT) by 15% in 2012. The subsidy reduction is more severe than the 12% forecasted by many industry insiders and was triggered by the 5.2GW of new capacity installed between October 2010 and September 2011.
Under the German Government's Renewables Act, the FiT adheres to a degression regime, where cuts are dependent on the previous year's installation figure. Although the figure is well below the 7.8GW installed the previous year, the collapse is not as dramatic as had been expected when the German Government initially announced its FiT cut. Indeed, between July and September 1.6GW was installed, just 100MW shy of the corresponding year-on-year number.
Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis
Photovoltaics International is now included.
- Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
- In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
- Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
- Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
- Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
- Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual
Or continue reading this article for free
The following rates are applicable for the coming year:
| Installation type | Size | Rate |
| Rooftop | ≤30kW | €0.2443 per kWh |
| Rooftop | ≤100kW | €0.2323 per kWh |
| Rooftop | ≤100kW | €0.2198 per kWh |
| Rooftop | ≤1MW | €0.1833 per kWh |
| Ground-mounted | all | €0.1794 per kWh |
However, the Bundesnetzagentur's announcement may also spark a rush of installations between now and the year's end, as developers seek to lock in higher tariffs before the new rates come into force on January 1, 2012. Should this scenario transpire, this new capacity will result in a further subsidy reduction in July 2012.
