Switzerland Offers Rebate to Lift Solar Market amid Pandemic

With an aim to save the solar photovoltaic (PV) market from ongoing slum caused by coronavirus crisis, Switzerland offered another USD 47 million financial support through rebates.

Through such initiatives, the Central European country is planning to lift the PV market, especially residential and commercial rooftop solar. This is significant as, after hydropower and nuclear power, solar energy form the third major source of energy in Switzerland.

Post the second rebate, around USD 387.6 million will be available under the solar PV rebate scheme, which is in line to arrest any possible slump in the solar market due to the pandemic, as predicted by the data and analytics company, GlobalData.

Commenting on the development, Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst of GlobalData, explained “in 2018, the Swiss Photovoltaic Association, Swissolar, introduced the rebate scheme to benefit the residential and commercial PV customers. The rebate scheme was targeted at not only reducing the waiting time for the implementation of FIT contracts but also guarantee maximum coverage of 30 percent of the investment costs. The scheme acted as a massive push for more consumers to apply for the solar PV systems.”

In 2020, applications under the scheme were coming at a steady rate until January, however more recently, owing to the pandemic, applications have significantly reduced. In all probability, consumers have started predicting that the worsening pandemic situation would lead to the authorities failing to compensate for the project costs. Even with supply chain disruptions and prospective rise in investment costs, the guaranteed coverage, of the rebate scheme, has chances of experiencing a drop.

“The increase in funding of the rebate program would put these concerns to rest. The extra funding will not only expand the rebate budget, helping authorities to maintain the guaranteed coverage against investment cost but also help reduce the waiting time for payments,” he said.

Das further added that “the number of large projects awaiting payments has already started decreasing. Clearly, in the pandemic, the Swiss government with the expanded rebate budget averted the solar PV sector to experience a major blow.”