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

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier seems uninterested in the French government's negative experiences with solar roof auctions.

A BSW industry survey gives the amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) poor marks: 97 percent of the more than 1,000 participating companies expect a market decline for photovoltaic solar roofs – the draft law from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is hindering rather than promoting growth and urgently needs improvement.

Ninety-seven percent of solar companies are warning of a decline in demand for rooftop solar installations if the draft Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) presented last week by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier is implemented unchanged. This is the result of a recent industry survey. In just three days, over 1,000 solar companies participated in the evaluation of the draft legislation initiated by the German Solar Association (BSW). The amendment, scheduled for discussion in the Federal Cabinet tomorrow, Wednesday, includes numerous, sometimes significant, changes to the funding conditions for photovoltaics. The solar industry is alarmed and is appealing to policymakers to make improvements to numerous aspects of the legislation.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) wants larger solar roofs to only receive market premiums in the future if they have previously participated successfully in a tender and no longer use the solar power themselves, but feed it entirely into the grid. “Four out of five solar companies expect that demand for solar roofs will even plummet if the framework conditions deteriorate in this way,” explains Carsten Körnig, Managing Director of the German Solar Association (BSW), referring to the survey results.

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

Smart meters are disproportionately expensive and too costly for small installations

The solar industry is also issuing a strong warning against the introduction of further metering and regulation requirements, such as those proposed by the draft legislation from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), even for the smallest amounts of solar power. Eighty-five percent of survey participants anticipate negative impacts on photovoltaic demand if solar power systems with a capacity of just 1 kilowatt peak or more are required to install smart meters. “It is incomprehensible why even a handful of solar modules on private homes should be equipped with expensive metering systems. This increases neither grid stability nor system efficiency and is completely disproportionate,” said Körnig. The German Solar Association (BSW) is calling on the federal government to instead use standard load profiles for prosumers and to continue relying on the proven option of active power reduction for larger solar power systems. This effectively avoids generation peaks and makes solar power production sufficiently predictable for grid operators and energy suppliers.

Prosumer (Germanized Prosument) refers to a consumer (in the sense of consumer, English consumer) who is also a producer (English producer).

Energy experts agree that a significant increase in storage capacity will be necessary in the coming years to ensure the electricity system can be made more flexible to meet demand. The current draft legislation "is hindering progress instead of providing impetus," criticizes the German Solar Association (BSW), which also represents the interests of the storage industry. Three-quarters of solar energy companies expect operators of older photovoltaic systems to shut down their solar power installations if they are required to pay a pro-rata EEG surcharge for self-consumed solar power. Under these circumstances, switching to partial self-consumption of solar power using retrofitted battery storage systems to power electric vehicles and heat pumps will become unattractive for them.

In a recent statement , the BSW calls on the Federal Government to eliminate numerous further market barriers and to triple the expansion of photovoltaics compared to current government plans.

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• Planned solar brake: EEG and the Federal Cabinet
• Solar tax: The solar industry demands its abolition and a solar acceleration law