Falling PV module prices have little effect on solar power investments in Germany

A significant drop in the price of PV modules has so far had only a moderate effect on solar power investments in Germany, according to website strom-report.de. Prices for PV modules fell by more than 70 percent between 2010 and 2016 while at the same time investments contracted by about 90 percent from 19.5 billion euros to 1.58 billion euros, strom-report.de says. The parallel decrease in renewables support, which is said to have negatively affected solar power’s expansion in Germany, stood at only 64 percent, it adds. strom-report.de noted, however, that newly installed capacity did not decline as much as investment. “Further price decreases, stable feed-in tariffs and new target markets could revive PV expansion. The industry is optimistic,” strom-report.de says.

Read the analysis in German here.

See the CLEW article on German module producer SolarWorld’s insolvency for background.