London (Platts)--27Jul2010/719 am EDT/1119 GMT

  

    Germany's federal grid agency (BNetzA) said Tuesday that solar capacity
rose by an estimated 3 GW in the first half of the year as solar panel
operators rushed to register their units to benefit from higher feed-in
tariffs. 

     According to a statement, newly installed solar capacity rose by 1.7 GW
between January and May based on the analysis of the 85,000 applications
received for solar units during that period.

     However, the agency received a further 50,000 applications alone in June,
which should bring the total newly installed solar capacity above 3 GW for the
first half, the statement said.    
    
     "Applications were flooding in during the last weeks of June as many
operators wanted to secure higher feed-in tariffs, which were reduced
considerably from July 1 2010," the president of the federal grid agency
Matthias Kurth said.

     Operators of solar PV panels need to register their units with the
BNetzA to benefit from subsidies paid for solar-generated power. 
     
     Parliament approved earlier this month a compromise bill to cut solar
subsidies slightly later than originally planned. Rooftop-based solar modules,
the most popular form of solar PV in the country, receive 13% less funding
from July 1, with another 3% cut scheduled for October 1.  
    
     Feed-in tariff cuts for open field installations and solar-parks on
conversion sites were also scaled back three percentage points until October
but will be cut eventually by 15% and 11% respectively, while solar
installations on converted farmland will not receive any funding at all. 

     Further cuts will be linked to annual capacity growth with a target rate
of 3,500 MW. Experts estimate that subsidies paid to solar-power producers may
still add up to Eur100 billion ($125 billion) over the coming 20 years.

     The generous feed-in tariffs set by the government have helped to make
Germany the world's largest solar PV market with a size-able industry, but
concerns have grown in recent months about the unhindered growth of solar
installations. 

    In 2009, solar capacity increased by 3.8 GW to a total of 9.8 GW. 

    According to data provided by the country's four TSOs and published daily
on the European Energy Exchange's (EEX) transparency website, solar power
output will reach 5,000 MW for hours 13 and 14 Tuesday. 
--Andreas Franke, andreas_franke@platts.com

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