PVTIME – Katherina Reiche, the German Economy Minister, has recently revealed plans to cancel subsidies for newly installed household photovoltaic systems. This move has sparked widespread opposition from Germany’s business community and civil society. A broad alliance comprising over 20 million members is urging the federal government to continue supporting the household PV sector and to create favourable conditions for its growth.
This alliance comprises over 20 million individuals and more than 50,000 companies, including leading associations from sectors such as small and medium-sized enterprises, housing, consumer protection, environmental protection, and the electrical and digital industries. Its members have co-signed a joint appeal noting that photovoltaic power generation helps to ensure sustained low electricity prices for businesses and consumers by suppressing prices on power exchanges, while enabling millions of citizens to participate actively in the energy transition. They also point out that new household PV systems are now typically combined with battery energy storage, electric vehicles, or heat pumps to ease grid pressure. Furthermore, each kilowatt-hour of household PV power that receives EEG subsidies drives around two kilowatt-hours of unsubsidised, self-consumed electricity, which reduces reliance on subsidies and makes ongoing support necessary.
A survey commissioned by the BSW-Solar industry body from YouGov found that household PV installations could drop by more than half without an attractive funding framework. Data shows that demand for private household PV installations has fallen by around 25% year on year since 2025. BSW-Solar’s managing director, Carsten Körnig, has warned that a further deterioration of the framework conditions would be catastrophic in the current market circumstances. He is urging the federal government to maintain policy stability, as the EEG subsidy remains a necessary safety net for most new PV customers.
The alliance notes that, while large-scale PV systems of 100kW and above already sell power directly on the electricity market, small-scale systems will only do the same once smart meters and suitable market systems are fully in place. Without these, the popularisation of PV will be hindered.
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