According to the German Federal Network Agency’s newly published report, Germany saw 10,109 new PV plants with a total capacity of 291.64 MW in added photovoltaic capacity in the month of August.

As was the case in the months before, no PV plants more than 10 MW were installed in Germany yet again. For the first time in four months, the newly installed PV capacity fell below the 300 MW mark again. The number of PV plants with a capacity between 1 and 10 MW was just around 50 according to the figures published. While large-scale PV parks in Germany are no longer eligible for FITs since the EEG change last year, the remuneration for the midsize segment will now fall below 10 Euro cents per kWh as well October onwards. The newly installed PV capacity in Germany from January to August is just about 2,400 MW according to the Federal Network Agency.

The PV FIT has been reduced monthly since the 2012 EEG reform. Currently the degression rate is 1.8%. Therefore in October the FITs fall to 14.27 Euro cents for PV installations up to 10 kW; 13.54 cents per kWh for rooftop systems systems up to 40 kW and 12.08 cents per kWh for PV systems up to 1 MW. For rooftop and ground-mounted systems that have a capacity between 1 and 10 MW, operators will only receive 9.88 cents per kWh October onwards. It is therefore expected that investments in this segment will be restricted to special circumstances, for example for self-consumption, in order to stay economical.

End of October the Agency has to determine the new monthly degression rates of the FITs. If the added capacities from the previous months -October 2012 to September 2013- are used, then a further reduction of the monthly degression is to be expected. According to the figures given, the PV capacity addition between October 2012 and September 2013 was 3771.67 MW. This means the corridor target for annual PV addition set by the German government at 2,500 to 3,500 MW has only been slightly topped. Especially since the new monthly PV capacity additions seems to have leveled out to around 300 MW. The lowest figures were in February with 201 MW, the highest in April with around 367 MW. A monthly degression of 1.4% is therefore likely for the months of November, December and January.

Translated and edited by Shamsiah Ali-Oettinger

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