Germany Runs Out of Solar Panels Due to Generous Feed-In Tariff

November 28th, 2009 by Susan Kraemer

A burst of new business at the end of 2009 put Germany close to adding a record of solar power to the grid, according to the head of Germany’s BSW solar industry association, Carsten Koernig. He estimates that in this year alone; it will be very close to 3 Gigawatts.

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While he is not sure what the final end-of-year number will be, he is sure of one fact. It can’t be over 3 gigawatts, simply because there is no more capacity than that in the pipeline.

German supplies have completely sold out. Demand for parts, especially, and equipment such as inverters has outstripped supply. Germany’s very consumer-oriented feed-in tariff legislation makes it profitable for any homeowner to install panels on their roofs to supply the grid – – and so they do just that.

More than 40,000 people work in the photovoltaic industry. The 2008 record solar installed was 1.6 GW, bringing Germany’s total to 5.3 GW; one third of the world’s 15 GW of solar power. This year’s 3 gigawatts could propel it to half the world’s solar.

Part of the increase in end-of year sales was was due to pent-up demand as the financial crisis starts to ease in Germany; but part of it was last-minute homeowners and solar investors getting into the action before 2010, when the Feed-in Tariff rates will step down 10%.

Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act has required power companies to buy all the energy produced by anyone making renewable power, at a fixed above-market price for 20 years.

This payment started out in 2003 as 3 times what the electricity consumer would normally pay for electricity, then went down to 2 times the retail rate. Even after it goes down 10% next year this still amounts to well over what the electricity customer pays.

A surcharge of $1.67 on the monthly bill does not begin to cover that extra cost to the utility; but the nation shares in the Common Good of lowering carbon emissions.

Image: HomeDesignFind

Source: GreenBusiness

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Tags: 2009, decline 10% in 2010, double the market rate, Germany, Renewable Energy Sources Act, twice retail, two times

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

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Great post , thanks for sharing
Wisdom2See

Many across the country will began to see the fallout when we look at the American Clean Energy bill impact will have upon the coal and natural gas industries.

What the projected increases on electrical rates could means will be felts upon the health care industries ,commercial & residential markets , and many other areas within the US economy.

These industries are not immune to climate change or natural disaster conditions with an 18th century old method model of an centralized electrical delivery systems that can not insure the delivery of an electrical reliability under these sever conditions and the consequences that many may have in cost of loss in property and life that depend upon the need for electrical power.

The demand for true competition within the Market can only be fully realized when the benefits of the an creative progressive incentives are fully implemented within the Market .

These issues and many related problems need more open transparency when looking at economic models for an alternative solutions to an growing energy crisis problems and the restoring of the economy to the new

energy technologies applications
Susan Kraemer

True. Our FITs currently are for only about the same pay per kwh (19 cents) as our costs but a FIT that pays double would be great, but with 30 utilities in the state though and some so cheap (AMP in Alameda is 5 cents a kwh of geothermal) so that would be hard.

I’m hoping that AB920 can enable more cities to offer Berkeley First PACE financing.
http://www.getit.org Barry Raveendran Greene

Is this a sign of what is to come in California? AB 920 & SR 32 were signed on Oct 11, 2009 – totally transforming California power production. Yet, we’re not seeing the excitement nor realization of what this means to residences and businesses in California. All the lessons from Germany can be repeated, optimized, and more effective in California.
http://www.getit.org Barry Raveendran Greene

Is this a sign of what is to come in California? AB 920 & SR 32 were signed on Oct 11, 2009 – totally transforming California power production. Yet, we’re not seeing the excitement nor realization of what this means to residences and businesses in California. All the lessons from Germany can be repeated, optimized, and more effective in California.
http://www.getit.org Barry Raveendran Greene

Is this a sign of what is to come in California? AB 920 & SR 32 were signed on Oct 11, 2009 – totally transforming California power production. Yet, we’re not seeing the excitement nor realization of what this means to residences and businesses in California. All the lessons from Germany can be repeated, optimized, and more effective in California.
Susan Kraemer

True. Our FITs currently are for only about the same pay per kwh (19 cents) as our costs but a FIT that pays double would be great, but with 30 utilities in the state though and some so cheap (AMP in Alameda is 5 cents a kwh of geothermal) so that would be hard.

I’m hoping that AB920 can enable more cities to offer Berkeley First PACE financing.