予想されていたことですが、早いですねぇ。
スペインでは約束を反故にするのはよくあることです。
政府も例外ではありましぇん。
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/solar-a-bust-in-spain--5297.html
Solar a Bust in
Installers of solar energy systems are trying to unload megawatts worth of panels cheaply after buying too many at high prices earlier this year.
by: Ucilia Wang
December 3, 2008
Call it irrational exuberance or greed. Companies that couldn't get enough solar panels to build power plants in
Installers of solar energy systems that have purchased an estimated 1.7 gigawatts worth of panels this year were able to use only 800 megawatts of the goods before the Spanish government shrank a lucrative solar incentives program in September, said Paula Mints, principal solar analyst at Navigant Consulting at the Thin Film Solar Summit in
As a result, some of these installers – Mints wouldn't offer any names – are selling the crystalline silicon panels at around $3 per watt. When the same buyers gobbled up panels earlier this year, they also drove up the prices to as high as $4.50 per watt in
The high price seemed justified when the more lucrative incentives were in place. Without less attractive ones in effect now, those expensive panels make for an expensive solar power plant. Meanwhile, prices for new panels are falling.
"
It all started last year, really, when Spain implemented a program requiring utilities to buy all of the solar power generated in the country at prices set by the government. Those prices were higher than the prices for conventional power. It was a good idea, a model that had turned
But the rules for the Spanish program were different than the German program. And that was where the trouble began.
It was wrong. The total installations reached 344 megawatts by September of 2007 (see Is Spain Shining Too Brightly). So the government froze the program while it was figuring out what to do. That meant the lucrative solar electricity rates were still in effect but the incentives for the first 400-megawatts were not in force.
After many negotiations and handwringing, the government finally settled on new rules for the program and put them into effect in September. The new program put a 2009 cap at 500 megawatts and cut the solar electricity rates by as much as 29 percent, depending on whether the solar panels are installed on the rooftops or the ground. (see Solar Approves 500MW for Solar).
Solar companies see the 500-megawatt cap as a drastic measure to control the market, considering some analysts believe the country could install more than 1 gigawatt of new solar energy systems in 2008. Mints said the number is more likely to be less than 1 gigawatt.
In comparison,
The goal of any feed-in tariff program is to lower the rates over time until solar energy costs roughly the same as conventional power. The assumption is the cost of setting up solar power plants will decline over time as the market grows and more equipment makers participate and compete against one another.
Mints compared what has happened in
"The panels were sold under the optimism that this [new feed-in tariff] could not happen," Mints said. "If you are inside the market, it's your job to be optimistic."