As anticipated, Germany's upper house, the Bundesrat, today voted down proposals for cuts to the country's pioneering solar incentive scheme, ensuring that the issue will now be settled by a parliamentary mediation committee.
The proposed cuts were approved by the Bundestag lower house, but they have continued to face opposition from Germany's influential solar energy industry, which has warned that the plan to reduce feed-in tariff for solar panels by up to 16 per cent will lead to a collapse in sales.
The failure of the Bundesrat to approve the cuts means that they are unlikely to come into force as planned on 1 July. However, if the mediation committee sides with the government and rubber-stamps the proposals, the cuts could be applied retroactively.
The move raises the slim prospect that the cuts, which include a 16 per cent cut to feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar panels and an 11 per cent cut in incentives for solar installations on so-called conversion sites, could be scaled back.
However, the government is set to maintain that the recent fall in the price of solar panels means that the sector has now become over-subsidised.
The proposed cuts were approved by the Bundestag lower house, but they have continued to face opposition from Germany's influential solar energy industry, which has warned that the plan to reduce feed-in tariff for solar panels by up to 16 per cent will lead to a collapse in sales.
The failure of the Bundesrat to approve the cuts means that they are unlikely to come into force as planned on 1 July. However, if the mediation committee sides with the government and rubber-stamps the proposals, the cuts could be applied retroactively.
The move raises the slim prospect that the cuts, which include a 16 per cent cut to feed-in tariffs for rooftop solar panels and an 11 per cent cut in incentives for solar installations on so-called conversion sites, could be scaled back.
However, the government is set to maintain that the recent fall in the price of solar panels means that the sector has now become over-subsidised.
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