Solarworld Slides on Record Subsidy Cut Report: Frankfurt Mover
Solarworld AG (SWV), the world’s fourth- largest solar-panel maker, dropped the most in five weeks as the government in Germany, Europe’s biggest renewable energy market, outlined plans to cut subsidies for photovoltaic installations.
Solarworld fell as much as 9.2 percent to 3.61 euros, the biggest intraday decline since Jan. 20, and was trading down 7.6 percent at 2:45 p.m. in Frankfurt. That pared the stock’s gain this year to 13 percent.
German federal aid for the solar-panel industry 2would be reduced by a range of 20.2 percent to 29 percent and March 9 and be scaled back further monthly starting in May, according to a plan announced today by Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler at a press conference in Berlin.
“The cuts will drag module prices down and squeeze margins,” Henning Wicht, lead solar analyst for IHS iSuppli, said in Munich before the decision. “Module prices in Germany will have to come down at least 10 percent.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is working to curtail a boom in solar installations that outpaced targets for renewable energy, which ministers are encouraging as a replacement for nuclear power that’s being phased out by 2022. Germany, home to manufacturers including Q-Cells SE (QCE) and Conergy AG (CGYK), installed 7.5 gigawatts of panels last year, more than twice the government’s target.
Officials responsible for setting subsidy levels across Europe have struggled to keep up as the price of solar equipment tumbled in recent years. Panel prices fell about 46 percent last year, driving installations even as subsidies fell.
To contact the reporters on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net; Marc Roca in London at mroca6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page