Reminder that Germany was once the technology leader in solar cell production until the CDU killed the industry and gave that whole market to China.
I wonder how this could benefit me. So far I came up empty.
Well that entirely depends on if you have millions worth in shares in fossil fuels or not.
I used to work in the industry from 2012 until 2023.
Yes, building private PV plants has become exponentially cheaper than it was in 2010s, and there are nowdays so many privately owned PV-systems that on sunny days Germany does often have an oversupply of electricity. (that problem can be solved with Smart-grid systems)
But that’s not the real reason. One reason I see is that because of extremely high grants that has become a fertile ground for embezelment. The second reason I see is that for the most installing companies installing PV systems on residential homes is a pain in the a** and not a moneymaker anymore. Even in Germany many small-to-middle sized companies have gone bankrupt or are struggling. What has remaind are the giants who are able to compete on infrastructure level PV-plants (and who also have other sources of income) or micro-companies “with a single van”.
I would say that the times have changed and with it the way residental-PV is treated by the governments.
This is stupid given that Germany needs every watt of new generation it can get in order to reduce electricity prices (if anything, to kickstart their industrial might again)
You see the last government was the best we had in decades, possibly generations. And they were unpopular. So the new government is doing the opposite. They‘re stupid and their policies are destructive for the economy and society. But hey, at least they are even more unpopular than the last government!
It’s going to happen worldwide and it is less of a reflection of a lack of interest, but the current price of PVs mean they are economical even without subsidies. link
I think this is a good thing, IF the subsidies are shifted from PV to other de-carbonising measures (e.g. increased heating system replacement subsidies).
IF the subsidies are shifted from PV to other de-carbonising measures (e.g. increased heating system replacement subsidies).
We’ll, thats where the problem lies…
I would agree with you generally, but this case is a bit different. Currently, you can get compensation for feeding electricity into the grid. For small PV systems this is negligible (though it used to be substantial), but larger ones exceeding I’d say 10 kW can still recuperate some of the costs that way while covering their need. In addition, large commercial plants could get compensation for electricity production exceeding the local grid’s capacity to incentivise the development both of local grids (to save cash) and for local providers to increase generation capacity early on.
The current ministry is essentially slashing all these incentives (and turning them around: you have to pay to be connected to the grid) which is likely going to lead to a second crash in the PV market.
PV is already cheap and other parts of tge infrastructure are lacking. In my opinion it makes sense to drop subsidies for PV, it will easily grow without them. Infrastructure modernization and energy storage should be subsidized instead. To pull investments where they are needed most.
Infrastructure modernization and energy storage should be subsidized instead.
Strange way to spell fossil fuels, the only thing this corrupt and backwards government will ever subsidize properly.
Not surprising as they made one of the minds behind the destruction of the PV industry in German and the subsequent sell-out to China as well as establishing a way for grid providers to delay planned storage for a decade Minister of Economy…
And in a few years they will all again loudly scream how renewables simply don’t work (if you sabotage them 24/7 - but never say the quiet part out loud) and we really need to start planning some imaginary nuclear reactors to be build in a few decades.
Makes sense. PV is dirt cheap with or without subsidies, and there’s already so much solar generation that every mildly sunny day produces so much solar that the electricity prices swing to zero before spiking back up when the sun goes down.
If subsidy money is going to be spent, it should be spent on things that people wouldn’t do without a subsidy, and is productive for the grid. In this case, I think if anything for small, residential homes is going to be subsidized, it should be home batteries.
The cheaper the better. Makes storage power stations more cost efficient.
