SOLAR ELECTRICITY IN BELGIUM ALREADY PROFITABLE WITHOUT GREEN CERTIFICATES AND GRID TAX

Munich, Germany – March 11, 2014: The recently revoked grid tax by Belgium’s High Court is again a topic of discussion, though for all solar installations in Wallonia. The grid tax, introduced in December 2012, charges system owners an amount a year for each kilowatt of installed capacity. This will considerably reduce the profitability of solar installations for end consumers and creates uncertainty in the solar market. REC believes that net-metering – without both green certificates and grid charges – is an excellent model which helps residential end consumers to save electricity costs and to foster private investments in renewable energy.

Luc Graré, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing at REC, stated: “Today, solar electricity is without a doubt, a competitive and affordable energy source in Belgium. The actual levelized cost of solar energy at 17.9 ct/kWh* is below the residential electricity retail price of 21 ct/kWh, which continuously increases. Therefore, REC welcomes the decision of Belgium’s High Court to revoke the retroactive grid tax in Flanders. We already see that solar pays off with the net-metering model in place and without green certificates in the residential segment.”

Net-metering allows end consumers to save significantly on their energy bills because, typically during the daytime, the solar production volume can be higher than the consumption and the meter turns backward in this case. Also, net-metering provides an extended period of income generation from the investment as opposed to feed-in tariffs.

Graré continued: “Our calculations, based on our market intelligence and realized projects, show that net-metering can help residential end consumers to save up to 700 Euros per year** on their electricity costs.”

*The calculation of the levelized cost of solar energy includes 6% of weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and 1% of capital investment (capex), operational and maintenance (O&M) costs annually as well as an inclined solar irradiation of 1,050 kWh per m2 and per year and 0.7% module degradation per year.

**Assumption: family in Brussels or Flanders with a rooftop solar installation covering 30 m2 (about 16 solar panels), investment of 7,000 - 8,000 EUR for the solar system, electricity purchase price of 21 ct /kWh, net-metering, and electricity consumption mainly in the morning and evening hours.

Background information on REC:

According to IHS iSuppli report for 2013, REC is the largest European supplier of solar panels worldwide. REC is headquartered in Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: RECSOL). REC’s 1,600 employees worldwide generated revenues of NOK 4.1 billion in 2012. With more than 15 years of experience, REC offers sustainable, high performing products, services and investments for the solar industry. Within Europe, the company’s key markets are Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. REC sees a huge potential in the self consumption segment. Across all European countries, Belgium shows the highest potential of self-consumption rates for small or medium-sized companies as well as residential end consumers, based on high retail electricity prices. REC is a thought leader on the topic of self consumption and conducted a study on the profitability of commercial solar installations for self consumption and analyzed the impact of levies on self consumption.

Reader enquiries

REC
REC Solar Germany GmbH
Leopoldstraße 175
80804 Munich
Germany

+49 89 54 04 67 223

www.recgroup.com