09/28/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
Up to 10,200 euros from the state could be applied for a package of PV system and E-car. After only one day, the funding pot of 300 million euros was exhausted.
On September 26, the website of the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) opened, where a grant for a package of PV system, battery and e-car could be applied for. Just one day later, the site reported that applications were no longer possible because the 300 million euros had already been allocated. In the meantime, the website almost collapsed under the onslaught. In the coming year, another 200 million euros are available for this purpose.
The purchase and installation of a charging station for electric cars (wallbox) in combination with a photovoltaic system and a solar power storage system are subsidized. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport (BMDV), the "Solar Power for Electric Cars" program provides an investment grant of up to 10,200 euros for owners of owner-occupied residential buildings. The condition is that they own an electric car or have ordered an e-car at the time of application. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) criticized the program as antisocial because tenants cannot participate.
Minister Wissing is pleased about popularity
Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) spoke of an "overwhelming popularity" for the program. By charging at one's own home, the need for public charging is reduced, the power grid is relieved and citizens are enabled to save on energy costs. The maximum funding amount can only be received by those who also release the battery of their vehicle for discharging. The battery can thus serve as a small part of a reserve, from which electricity can also flow back into the grid if necessary or be used in one's own home.
The Federal Association of the Solar Industry (BSW) was pleased about the great interest in the population in private "solar filling stations", but at the same time also little surprised. Even before the launch of the subsidy, there had been a solar boom in German owner-occupied housing estates. In the first half of the year, demand for solar power systems had already more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
Solar industry calls use of own electricity economical
According to a BSW survey of solar installers, 78 percent of buyers of a photovoltaic roof would also install a solar power storage system and 42 percent a wallbox for charging their own e-car with green electricity. The BSW advises that the purchase of an electric car, especially in combination with an own solar system, remains interesting and pays off even after the KfW subsidy has expired. This is especially true when e-cars are powered by inexpensive solar electricity.
Solar power can be generated in Germany from the roof of one's own house from new systems usually already at significantly less than a third of the cost that households would have to pay for electricity from the grid. Moreover, the excess solar power not consumed by the household itself can be fed into the public grid. It would also be remunerated under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) after the KfW subsidy expires, for a total of 20 years.
The KfW 270 program will continue to be available for loan financing of solar power systems and storage. According to a Yougov survey from the spring, around one in six property owners in Germany is planning to install a solar roof. Around a third are planning to buy an e-car or are at least considering it.
According to BSW, a typical 70-square-meter solar power system with a rated output of 13 kW produces as much electricity in a year as a four-person household consumes in total to meet all its energy needs: electricity for the household, for up to 20.000 kilometers drive in the E-car as well as electricity for the heat pump, in order to heat an average insulated single-family house.
Left: Homemade problems led to crash
The Left Party criticized the "application chaos". This was "an indictment of the digital ministry." The sentence "Oops, something went wrong", which applicants got to read more frequently in the 24 hours on the landing page, was symptomatic.
In the application process, there was no requirement for proof, according to the Left Party. Only three days before the list of wallboxes was published, and the registrations until then were lost. The server of the KfW had collapsed under the following simultaneous re-registration of all applicants. Many applicants had also not received confirmation of receipt, leading to multiple applications.
Authors: Susanne Harmsen and Georg Eble
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