On Wednesday, Frank Asbeck apparently told Handelsblatt (according to photovoltaik.eu -- the Handelsblatt site is premium content) that he could imagine a one-off reduction of another 10 percent on April 1 or July 1 of next year after the already scheduled reduction of 9 to 11 percent (depending on type of system) that will already take effect on January 1. The new rates for roof arrays would then reportedly be around 25 percent lower than in 2008 and nearly 30 percent lower for ground-mounted arrays.
Meanwhile, Joachim Pfeiffer, energy spokesperson for the CDU, has stated that the automatic reduction that will take place on January 1 does not go far enough. ("Dies wird jedoch nicht ausreichen, um die Verbraucher vor unzumutbaren Kosten in den nächsten Jahren zu bewahren".)
The German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) has yet to come out with any specific proposals of its own.
Hello Craig
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of Mr. Asbeck's suggestion? Anne Kreutzmann (editor-in-chief of PHOTON) recently suggested that speeding up the degression rate will ultimately lead to more PV in Germany. Do you agree with this line of reasoning?
Do you know why the FiT degression schedule doesn't include California-esque capacity triggers to drop the rate? Intuitively, I think this would help smooth out these year end dash-for-glass cycles.
To get a capacity triggered FiT degression you would obviously need to have an accurate accounting of capacity and this clearly isn't he case currently. Do you have any idea why installation figures for Germany are all over the place? i.e. 2200 to 4000 MW
Germany has an automatic trigger: http://notesfromotherside.blogspot.com/2009/12/german-environmental-minister-speaks-of.html.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more along the lines of a FiT rate that stepped down incrementally after each gigawatt installed.
ReplyDeleteello Mr. Morris
ReplyDeleteI've tried using PV calculators from Paul Gipe and Severin Borenstein without much luck. I've tried searching google but again, no luck
It bothers me that I can't find a rational calculation which indicates where the FiT might go. This seems like a no brainer excel spreadsheet. Do you have an opinion on where the FiT might go? Does a mid-year 10 percent adjustment make sense? 15%? Could you direct me towards a resource that might contain the answer? Ultimately, I'm not looking for the answer itself but the method of answering.
I'm using BSW's last report on average installed costs - 3263/kW.
I'm using a kWh/kWp performance of 850 kWh.
Do you know what the interest rates are on solar loans over there? Sorry for all the questions. Any help is appreciated.
Cheers