2012 photovoltaic tariffs published
Kurth: "Payments 15 percent lower from 1 January 2012"
Date of issue 2011.10.27
The Bundesnetzagentur has now published the new feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic (PV) installations. Depending on the location and size of the system, operators will receive between 17.94 cents and 24.43 cents per kilowatt hour fed into the network for PV installations which commence operation from 1 January 2012.
"We have recorded an increase in capacity of around 5,200 MW in the last twelve months. This means that tariff payments for PV installations which start operation from 1 January 2012 will be 15 percent lower than the current rate. The increase of 5,200 MW is significantly less than the 7,800 MW we recorded in the comparable period between October 2009 and September 2010. The flexible cap system, which aims to limit the costs of photovoltaic expansion, has certainly contributed to this development", said Matthias Kurth, Bundesnetzagentur President.
The Bundesnetzagentur calculates the feed-in tariffs and degression rates for the following year in accordance with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). These stipulate that the rates for new PV installations decrease continuously. Payment for electricity from PV installations is made under the so-called flexible cap system in which, starting with an annual base degression of 9 percent, the degression rate changes depending on actual PV expansion. The EEG includes several thresholds for greater or lesser degression. Between 1 October 2010 and 30 September 2011, the Bundesnetzagentur recorded an increase in PV installations above the statutory threshold of 4,500 MW. Feed-in tariffs will therefore decrease by a further six percentage points from 1 January 2012, a reduction of 15 percent in total. This would have increased to 18 percent had the threshold of 5,500 MW been exceeded, and a maximum reduction of 24 percent would have occurred if the value had been above 7,500 MW.
For the 2011 calendar year there was an increase of around 3,400 MW, according to the information provided by the generators to the Bundesnetzagentur between January and the end of September. As yet there are no estimates for the figures for October to December 2011. Further information on the degression rates and feed-in tariffs, and on the data provided, can be found on the Bundesnetzagentur website. Detailed information for June to September 2011 can also be expected there from the start of November 2011.