Germany's solar energy cap endangers investments worth one billion euros – report

Germany's market for solar energy and home storage systems will collapse if the government doesn't deliver on its promise to remove the existing cap for support payments, according to market research company EuPD Research, reports Petra Hannen in pv magazine. If feed-in tariffs are stopped when Germany's solar capacity reaches 52 gigawatts (GW), investments in small photovoltaic installations and home storage systems will total 450 million euros in 2021, compared to a base scenario without cap of 1.4 billion euros, the researchers forecast. They said that several projects will not be built at all with the cap in place, and many others will be cut in size to achieve a higher own consumption and minimise feeding power into the grid.

The combined capacity of Germany's solar PV installations rose to almost 50 GW in February, further approaching the controversial government cap of 52 GW. In November 2019, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the cap would be removed, but the government has so far failed to deliver on implementation. The solar cap and other hurdles to renewable energy expansion, particularly in onshore wind power, have become a drag on the country's energy transition, threatening emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.