See also
- Energiewende in Germany
- German Renewable Energy Sources Act, also known as the EEG
Feed-in electricity tariffs (FiT) were introduced in Germany to encourage the use of new energy technologies such as wind power, biomass, hydropower, geothermal power and solar photovoltaics. Feed-in tariffs are a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by providing them remuneration (a "tariff") above the retail or wholesale rates of electricity. The mechanism provides long-term security to renewable energy producers, typically based on the cost of generation of each technology. [2] Technologies such as wind power, for instance, are awarded a lower per-kWh price, while technologies such as solar PV and tidal power are offered a higher price, reflecting higher costs.
As of July 2014, feed-in tariffs range from 3.33 ¢/kWh (4.4 ¢/kWh) for hydropower facilities over 50 MW to 12.88 ¢/kWh (17.3 ¢/kWh) for solar installations on buildings up to 30 kWp and 19 ¢/kWh (25.5 ¢/kWh) for offshore wind. [3]
On 1 August 2014, a revised Renewable Energy Sources Act or EEG (2014) (colloquially called EEG 2.0) entered into force. The government will now stipulate specific deployment corridors to control the uptake of renewables and the feed-in tariffs themselves will be determined by auction. [4] : 7
The aim is to meet Germany's renewable energy goals of 40 to 45% of electricity consumption in 2025 and 55% to 60% in 2035. The policy also aims to encourage the development of renewable technologies, reduce external costs, and increase security of energy supply. [5]
In the first half of 2014, 28.5% of gross electricity production in Germany came from renewable sources. [6] The Federal Environment Ministry estimated that renewables were to save 87 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2012. The average level of feed-in tariff was 9.53 ¢/kWh in 2005 (compared to an average cost of displaced energy of 4.7 ¢/kWh). In 2004, the total level of reallocated EEG surcharges was €2.4 billion, at a cost per consumer of 0.56 ¢/kWh (3% of household electricity costs). [5] By 2013, the figure had risen to €20.4 billion. [7] The tariffs are lowered every year to encourage more efficient production of renewable energy. By 2014, the EEG surcharge – which pays for the additional costs through feed-in tariffs – had increased to 6.24 ¢/kWh. [8] As of July 2014, the regular reductions (degressions) were 1.5% per year for electricity from onshore wind and 1% per month for electricity from photovoltaics.
The solar sector employed about 56,000 people in 2013, a strong decline from previous years, due to many insolvencies and business closures. Although most of the installed solar panels are nowadays imported from China, the Fraunhofer institute ISEestimates, that only about 30% of the EEG apportionment outflows to China, while the rest is still spent domestically. The institute also predicts that Germany's solar manufacturing sector will improve its competitive situation in the future. [9]
The feed-in tariff system has been modified frequently. The feed-in tariff, in force since 1 August 2004, was modified in 2008. [10] In view of the unexpectedly high growth rates, the depreciation was accelerated and a new category (>1000 kWp) was created with a lower tariff. The facade premium was abolished. In July 2010, the Renewable Energy Sources Act was again amended to reduce the tariffs by a further 16% in addition to the normal annual depreciation, as the prices for PV panels had dropped sharply in 2009. [11] Another modification of the EEG occurred in 2011, when part of the degression foreseen for 2012 was brought forward to mid-2011 as a response to unexpectedly high installations in the course of 2010. [12]
| Type | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | July 2010 | October 2010 | 2011 | January 2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooftop-mounted | up to 30 kWp | 57.40 | 54.53 | 51.80 | 49.21 | 46.75 | 43.01 | 39.14 | 34.05 | 33.03 | 28.74 | 24.43 |
| above 30 kWp | 54.60 | 51.87 | 49.28 | 46.82 | 44.48 | 40.91 | 37.23 | 32.39 | 31.42 | 27.33 | 23.23 | |
| above 100 kWp | 54.00 | 51.30 | 48.74 | 46.30 | 43.99 | 39.58 | 35.23 | 30.65 | 29.73 | 25.86 | 21.98 | |
| above 1000 kWp | 54.00 | 51.30 | 48.74 | 46.30 | 43.99 | 33.00 | 29.37 | 25.55 | 24.79 | 21.56 | 18.33 | |
| Ground-mounted | conversion areas | 45.70 | 43.40 | 40.60 | 37.96 | 35.49 | 31.94 | 28.43 | 26.16 | 25.37 | 22.07 | 18.76 |
| agricultural fields | 45.70 | 43.40 | 40.60 | 37.96 | 35.49 | 31.94 | 28.43 | — | — | — | — | |
| other | 45.70 | 43.40 | 40.60 | 37.96 | 35.49 | 31.94 | 28.43 | 25.02 | 24.26 | 21.11 | 17.94 | |
| Installations on agricultural fields were removed under the PV Act (2010). | ||||||||||||
The support duration is 20 years plus the year of project commissioning, constant remuneration. Feed-in tariffs was lowered repeatedly (decreasing by 9% default and a maximum of 24% per year). Degression will be accelerated or slowed down by three percentage points for every 1000 MWp/a divergence from the target of 3500 MWp/a.
As of July 2014, feed-in tariffs for photovoltaic systems range from 12.88 ¢/kWh for small roof-top system, down to 8.92 ¢/kWh for large utility scaled solar parks. Also, FiTs are restricted to PV system with a maximum capacity of 10 MWp. The feed-in tariff for solar PV is declining at a faster rate than for any other renewable technology. [14]
| Year | Month | Degression | Rooftop mounted | Ground mounted up to 10 MWp | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| up to 10 kWp | up to 40 kWp | up to 1 MWp | up to 10 MWp | ||||
| 2012 | April | — | 19.50 | 18.50 | 16.50 | 13.50 | 13.50 |
| May | 1.0% | 19.31 | 18.32 | 16.34 | 13.37 | 13.37 | |
| June | 19.11 | 18.13 | 16.17 | 13.23 | 13.23 | ||
| July | 18.92 | 17.95 | 16.01 | 13.10 | 13.10 | ||
| August | 18.73 | 17.77 | 15.85 | 12.97 | 12.97 | ||
| September | 18.54 | 17.59 | 15.69 | 12.84 | 12.84 | ||
| October | 18.36 | 17.42 | 15.53 | 12.71 | 12.71 | ||
| November | 2.5% | 17.90 | 16.98 | 15.15 | 12.39 | 12.39 | |
| December | 17.45 | 16.56 | 14.77 | 12.08 | 12.08 | ||
| 2013 | January | 17.02 | 16.14 | 14.40 | 11.78 | 11.78 | |
| February | 2.2% | 16.64 | 15.79 | 14.08 | 11.52 | 11.52 | |
| March | 16.28 | 15.44 | 13.77 | 11.27 | 11.27 | ||
| April | 15.92 | 15.10 | 13.47 | 11.02 | 11.02 | ||
| May | 1.8% | 15.63 | 14.83 | 13.23 | 10.82 | 10.82 | |
| June | 15.35 | 14.56 | 12.99 | 10.63 | 10.63 | ||
| July | 15.07 | 14.30 | 12.75 | 10.44 | 10.44 | ||
| August | 1.8% | 14.80 | 14.04 | 12.52 | 10.25 | 10.25 | |
| September | 14.54 | 13.79 | 12.30 | 10.06 | 10.06 | ||
| October | 14.27 | 13.54 | 12.08 | 9.88 | 9.88 | ||
| November | 1.4% | 14.07 | 13.35 | 11.91 | 9.74 | 9.74 | |
| December | 13.88 | 13.17 | 11.74 | 9.61 | 9.61 | ||
| 2014 | January | 13.68 | 12.98 | 11.58 | 9.47 | 9.47 | |
| February | 1.0% | 13.55 | 12.85 | 11.46 | 9.38 | 9.38 | |
| March | 13.41 | 12.72 | 11.35 | 9.28 | 9.28 | ||
| April | 13.28 | 12.60 | 11.23 | 9.19 | 9.19 | ||
| May | 13.14 | 12.47 | 11.12 | 9.10 | 9.10 | ||
| June | 13.01 | 12.34 | 11.01 | 9.01 | 9.01 | ||
| July | 12.88 | 12.22 | 10.90 | 8.92 | 8.92 | ||
| Maximum remuneration part [16] | 100% | 90% | 90% | 100% | 100% | ||
On 1 August 2014, a revised Renewable Energy Sources Act entered into force. Specific deployment corridors now stipulate the extent to which renewable energy is to be expanded in the future and the funding rates (feed-in tariffs) gradually will no longer be fixed by the government, but will be determined by auction. Wind and solar power are to be targeted over hydro, gas (landfill gas, sewage gas, and mine gas), geothermal, and biomass. In late 2015, this new scheme is being tested, as a pilot project, for ground-mounted PV installations. [4] With the Renewable Energy Sources Act (2017), auctions will become commonplace for new installations also for most other types of renewables.
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially used for electricity generation and as photosensors.
Microgeneration is the small-scale production of heat or electric power from a "low carbon source," as an alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power.
Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind and biomass, plus solar and hydro. Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2021 it has over 58 GW. It is also the world's third country by installed total wind power capacity, 64 GW in 2021 and second for offshore wind, with over 7 GW. Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".
Solar power in Germany consists almost exclusively of photovoltaics (PV) and accounted for an estimated 8.2 percent of the country's gross-electricity generation in 2019. About 1.5 million photovoltaic systems were installed around the country in 2014, ranging from small rooftop systems, to medium commercial and large utility-scale solar parks. Germany's largest solar farms are located in Meuro, Neuhardenberg, and Templin with capacities over 100 MW.
Financial incentives for photovoltaics are incentives offered to electricity consumers to install and operate solar-electric generating systems, also known as photovoltaics (PV).
Solar power represented a very small part of electricity production in the United Kingdom until the 2010s when it increased rapidly, thanks to feed-in tariff (FIT) subsidies and the falling cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels.
A feed-in tariff is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers. This means promising renewable energy producers an above market price and providing price certainty and long-term contracts that help finance renewable energy investments. Typically, FITs award different prices to different sources of renewable energy in order to encourage development of one technology over another. For example, technologies such as wind power and solar PV are awarded a higher price per kWh than tidal power. FITs often include a "degression": a gradual decrease of the price or tariff in order to follow and encourage technological cost reductions.
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct to alternating current, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an integrated battery.
Grid parity occurs when an alternative energy source can generate power at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) that is less than or equal to the price of power from the electricity grid. The term is most commonly used when discussing renewable energy sources, notably solar power and wind power. Grid parity depends upon whether you are calculating from the point of view of a utility or of a retail consumer.
Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. The country is a major manufacturer and exporter of photovoltaics (PV) and a large installer of domestic PV systems, with most of them grid connected. Japan has a solar irradiance of about 4.3 to 4.8 kWh/(m2·day).
Worldwide growth of photovoltaics has been close to exponential between 1992 and 2018. During this period of time, photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar PV, evolved from a niche market of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity source.
The Renewable Energy Sources Act or EEG is a series of German laws that originally provided a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme to encourage the generation of renewable electricity. The EEG 2014 specified the transition to an auction system for most technologies which has been finished with the current version EEG 2017.
Development of solar power in Greece started in 2006 and installations of photovoltaic systems skyrocketed from 2009 because of the appealing feed-in tariffs introduced and the corresponding regulations for domestic applications of rooftop solar PV. As of 2019, 90% of the ca. 2.5 GWp capacity was installed in 2011, 2012 and 2013. However, funding the FITs created an unacceptable deficit of more than €500 million in the Greek "Operator of Electricity Market" RES fund. To reduce that deficit, new regulations were introduced in August 2012 including retrospective feed-in tariffs reduction, with further reductions over time. These measures enabled the deficit to be erased by 2017.
A feed-in tariff is when payments are given by energy suppliers if a property or organisation generates their own electricity using technology such as solar panels or wind turbines and feeds any surplus back to the grid. In the United Kingdom, they were entered into law by the Energy Act 2008 and took effect from April 2010. The scheme closed to new applicants on 31 March 2019.
The electricity sector in Switzerland relies mainly on hydroelectricity, since the Alps cover almost two-thirds of the country's land mass, providing many large mountain lakes and artificial reservoirs suited for hydro power. In addition, the water masses drained from the Swiss Alps are intensively used by run-of-the-river hydroelectricity (ROR). With 9,052 kWh per person in 2008, the country's electricity consumption is relatively high and was 22% above the European Union's average.
A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building-mounted and other decentralised solar power because they supply power at the utility level, rather than to a local user or users. The generic expression utility-scale solar is sometimes used to describe this type of project.
Solar power in Mexico has the potential to produce vast amounts of energy. 70% of the country has an insolation of greater than 4.5 kWh/m2/day. Using 15% efficient photovoltaics, a square 25 km (16 mi) on each side in the state of Chihuahua or the Sonoran Desert could supply all of Mexico's electricity.
Solar power in South Africa includes photovoltaics (PV) as well as concentrated solar power (CSP). In 2016, South Africa had 1,329 MW of installed solar power capacity. Installed capacity is expected to reach 8,400 MW by 2030.
Solar power in Switzerland has been growing rapidly in recent years due to declining system costs and a feed-in tariff instituted by the Swiss government. In 2013, cumulative capacity increased by 69% to 730 megawatts (MW) and contributed 544 GWh or 0.8% of the countries net-electricity production.