97 percent of solar entrepreneurs warn of a decline in demand for solar roofs

Published on: September 22, 2020 / update from: September 26, 2020 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier does not seem to be interested in the French government's negative experiences with solar roof auctions.

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier – Image: photocosmos1|Shutterstock.com

BSW industry survey attests poor grades to the amendment to the EEG law (Renewable Energy Sources Act): 97 percent of the over 1,000 participating entrepreneurs expect a decline in the market for photovoltaic solar roofs - the Federal Ministry of Economics' draft law is a brake instead of an inspiration and urgently needs to be improved.

97 percent of solar companies warn of a decline in demand for solar roofs if the draft bill for the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) presented by Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier last week is implemented unchanged. This emerges from a current industry survey. In just three days, over 1,000 solar companies took part in the German Solar Industry Association. V. (BSW) initiated evaluation of the draft law. The amendment to the law that will be on the agenda of the Federal Cabinet tomorrow, Wednesday, provides for numerous, sometimes serious, changes to the funding conditions for photovoltaics. The solar industry is alarmed and is calling on politicians to make improvements to numerous points in the legal text.

According to the request of the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi), larger solar roofs should only receive market premiums in the future if they have previously successfully participated in a tender and no longer use solar power themselves, but rather fully feed into the power grid. "Four out of five solar entrepreneurs expect that the demand for solar roofs will even collapse if such a deterioration of the framework conditions," explains Carsten Körnig, chief manager at the BSW, referring to the survey results.

Solar industry warns of market brake – Image: BSW-Solar eV – www.solarwirtschaft.de

Körnig also refers to the French government's very negative experiences with solar roof auctions. Just last week, the French government announced that it no longer wanted to make participation in tenders a requirement for funding in our neighboring country.

Smart meters are disproportionate and too expensive for small systems

The solar industry also urgently warns against the introduction of further requirements for measurement and regulation, as the draft law from the BMWI provides for even for the smallest solar erases in the future. 85 percent of the survey participants expects negative effects on photovoltaic demand, should solar power plants with a power from 1 kilowatt peak smart meters actually have to install. “It is not understandable why even a handful of solar modules will be equipped with expensive measuring systems on home -style homes in the future. This does not increase the network stability or system efficiency and is completely disproportionate, ”says Körnig. The Federal Government calls on the BSW to use standard load profiles for prosumers instead and to continue to rely on the tried and tested option for reluctance to reduce the acting. This is successfully avoiding generation peaks and making solar power production sufficiently predictable for network operators and energy suppliers.

Prosumer refers to consumers who are also producers.

In the coming years, the memory of the storage capacity is also required for the need for the electricity system. The current draft law "also brakes here instead of inspiring", according to the criticism of the BSW, which also represents the interests of the storage industry. Three quarters of the solar entrepreneurs assume that operators of older photovoltaic roofs will switch off their solar power systems if they have to pay a proportionate EEG surcharge for self-used solar power in the future. Under these circumstances, a switch to proportionate self-consumption of solar power using battery storage, for the supply of electric cars and heat pumps.

current statement the BSW calls on the federal government to remove numerous other market barriers and to triple the expansion of photovoltaics compared to the current government plans.

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