REGIONALGERMANY
Fixing prices
German company Phoenix Solar was unhappy with the method that the German government was using to calculate returns from Feed in Tariff subsidies so commissioned their own report from an international consultancy group. Their findings suggest the current method is not allowing consumers to reap the full benefit of the solar opportunities in the country.
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TecDAX, today presented “The True Value of Photovoltaics in Germany” study on the calculation of the differential cost of photovoltaic electricity and the costs and benefits of photovoltaics. The intention of this study is to present an objective standpoint on the as yet very emotional debate on the charges from photovoltaics borne by electricity consumers. The findings of the study carried out by A.T. Kearney, a consultancy company highly experienced in energy issues, focus on four key statements:
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1. The stock market price on the Leipzig-based European Energy Exchange is unsuitable as a benchmark for pricing photovoltaic electricity. In effect, photovoltaic electricity substitutes for peakand medium-load power stations run on gas and hard coal in the power grid. This is why the full
hoenix Solar, a photovoltaic system integrator listed on the German
costs of these fossil-based sources of energy should be compared with the costs of photovoltaics. A mere adjustment in the calculation reduces the charges levied for photovoltaics in 2011 by up to 18 percent, namely from 1.67 cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh) down to potentially 1.38 ct/kWh. If, in 2011, the volume of systems installed comes to six gigawatts rather than the 9.5 gigawatts anticipated by transmission grid operators, charges would be as much as 24 percent lower and come to 1.28 ct/kWh.
2. Macro-economic breakeven for the installed output of photovoltaics will have already been achieved by the end of 2010, which means that the benefits of photovoltaic systems installed in 2010 will outweigh the costs for the first time. Furthermore, by the end of 2011, all photovoltaic systems connected to the grid under the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG) since 2000 will
www.solar-pv-management.com Issue IX 2010
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