290.470 MWp New Solar Capacity in March – Solar Feed-in Tariffs Decrease by 1.8% As of May

New solar capacity added in March 2013 amounted to 290.470 MWp, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) announced. Furthermore, the agency informed that solar feed-in tariffs for May to July are subject to a 1.8% monthly decrease.

While the 290.470 MWp of new capacity are way below the 1,222 MWp added in March 2012, they are higher than the figure for March 2011, when 147.356 MWp were added, and fairly close to the figure for March 2010 (331.378 MWp). The March data is also breaking the trend of continuously falling monthly figures for new solar additions of the last five months (09/2012 980,829 MWp; 10/2012 611,856 MWp; 11/2012 435,275 MWp; 12/2012 330,102 MWp; 01/2013 274,673 MWp; 02/2013 211,215 MWp; 03/290.470 MWp).

Based on the latest information published by BNetzA (please note that figures may be subsequently corrected upon new information without leading to a new publication of the monthly figures), the March 2013 capacity additions lead to the following table of German PV capacity eligible for financial support pursuant to the EEG.

Year	Month	kWp	kWp
End of 2008			6,120,000
Installed 2009		3,801,572
End of 2009			9,921,572
Installed 2010		7,377,678
End of 2010			17,299,250
Installed 2011		7,485,234
End of 2011			24,784,484
Installed 2012		7,604,142
End of 2012			32,388,626
	01/2013	274,673
	02/2013	211,215
	03/2013	290,470
Installed 3/2013			776,358
Total 31.03.2013			33,164,984

Solar feed-in tariffs paid under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) are subject to a monthly standard decrease of 1% (cf. sec. 20b para. 1 EEG). According to sec. 20a EEG the political corridor for additional photovoltaic capacity ranges between 2,500 and 3,500 MWp per calendar year. Higher capacities trigger an additional decrease of 0.4 to 1.8%, depending on the extent of such exceedance (sec. 20b para. 2 EEG).
Due to the fact that new additions in the period from July 2012 to March 2013 exceeded the corridor by 1.809.287 kWp, an additional decrease of 0.8% on top of the standard decrease of 1% applies, BNetzA announced.

The latest figures lead to the following solar feed-in tariff table (on BNetzA information):

Solar Feed-in Tariffs until July 2013
	§ 32 Abs. 2 EEG (Roofs)				§ 32 Abs. 1 EEG
	up to 10 KWp	up to 40 kWp	up to 1 MWp	up to 10 MWp	up to 10 MWp
Start of Operations
from 01.04.2012	19.50	18.50	16.50	13.50	13.50
Degression			1.0%
from 01.05.2012	19.305000	18.315000	16.335000	13.365000	13.365000
Rounding	19.31	18.32	16.34	13.37	13.37
Degression			1.0%
from 01.06.2012	19.111950	18.131850	16.171650	13.231350	13.231350
Rounding	19.11	18.13	16.17	13.23	13.23
Degression			1.0%
from 01.07.2012	18.920831	17.950532	16.009934	13.099037	13.099037
Rounding	18.92	17.95	16.01	13.10	13.10
Degression			1.0%
from 01.08.2012	18.731622	17.771026	15.849834	12.968046	12.968046
Rounding	18.73	17.77	15.85	12.97	12.97
Degression			1.0%
from 01.09.2012	18.544306	17.593316	15.691336	12.838366	12.838366
Rounding	18.54	17.59	15.69	12.84	12.84
Degression			1.0%
from 01.10.2012	18.358863	17.417383	15.534422	12.709982	12.709982
Rounding	18.36	17.42	15.53	12.71	12.71
Degression			2.5%
from 01.11.2012	17.899891	16.981948	15.146062	12.392232	12.392232
Rounding	17.90	16.98	15.15	12.39	12.39
Degression			2.5%
from 01.12.2012	17.452394	16.557399	14.767410	12.082427	12.082427
Rounding	17.45	16.56	14.77	12.08	12.08
Degression			2.5%
from 01.01.2013	17.016084	16.143465	14.398225	11.780366	11.780366
Rounding	17.02	16.14	14.40	11.78	11.78
Degression			2.2%
from 01.02.2013	16.641730	15.788308	14.081464	11.521198	11.521198
Rounding	16.64	15.79	14.08	11.52	11.52
Degression			2.2%
from 01.03.2013	16.275612	15.440966	13.771672	11.267732	11.267732
Rounding	16.28	15.44	13.77	11.27	11.27
Degression			2.2%
from 01.04.2013	15.917549	15.101264	13.468695	11.019841	11.019841
Rounding	15.92	15.10	13.47	11.02	11.02
Degression			1.8%
from 01.05.2013	15.631033	14.829442	13.226259	10.821484	10.821484
Rounding	15.63	14.83	13.23	10.82	10.82
Degression			1.8%
from 01.06.2013	15,349674	14,562512	12,988186	10,626698	10,626698
Rounding	15,35	14,56	12,99	10,63	10,63
Degression			1.8%
from 01.07.2013	15,073380	14,300386	12,754399	10,435417	10,435417
Rounding	15,07	14,30	12,75	10,44	10,44

Source: Federal Network Agency: press release on new solar capacity; press release concerning decrease of feed-in tariffs

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