New remuneration scheme may deincentivize rooftop PV in Switzerland

In 2018, the federal remuneration scheme for renewable energy was reformed (Energiegesetz 2018). 

Until 2018 the principal remuneration scheme for renewable energy sources was a costs-covering feed-in tariff (FiT) or so-called the Kostendeckende Einspeisevergütung (KEV). With the new energy law, which entered into force on 1 January 2018, the FiT was reformed, being replaced by a one time investment contribution (Einmalvergütung (EIV)) of up to 30% of the total investment. Since the reform, new renewable installations can still benefit from the FiT if they are registered before the end of 2022. 

In principle the new renumeration scheme was advertised as an investment contribution of maximum 30%, yet the actual maximum is currently around 29%. The amount of the investment contribution consists of two categories: a basic contribution and a performance contribution. 

The amount of both categories of the investment contribution depends on the date of comissioning (e.g. highest if comissioned between 1.1.2013-31.12.2013 with 1500Fr basic contribution and lowest if comissioned from 1.4.2022 on with 350Fr basic contribution) and on whether the rooftop installation is integrated (eg. 385Fr basic contribution for integrated rooftop PV from 1.4.2022 on and 350Fr basic contribution for basic rooftop PV from 1.4.2022 on).

The one time investment contribution especially affects PV rooftop installations. The minimum investment contribution starts for small rooftop PV installations with a performance of 2KW with 11% investment contribution, rises successively to 21% at a performance of 20 KW and finally reaches a maximum contribution of around 28%-29% of the investment with installations with 150 KW or larger.

As 60% of the rooftop PV installations in Switzerland are in a performance range of 2 kW - 100 kW, the majority of rooftop PV is renumerated with a one time investment contribution of around 24%.