Last year, the austrian market grew by 2,6% and added 155.8 MW of new PV installations. Besides bio mass, PV was the only renewable energy source that could report an increase compared to 2015, the Austrian Photovoltaic Association (PVA) said on Thursday.

Notably new PV installation are still limited by the state´s Green Electricity Act. Only € 6 million of the € 8 million annual budget were actually distributed in the last year. “The growth is mainly done by self-initiative of those people who build their plants without any funding,” said PVA President Hans Kronberger.

An amendment to the Green Electricity Act is currently under preparation in the a mountainous republic in central Europe. According to Kronberger more funding is not absolutely necessary. Up to 30% increase in PV installations could be achieved by minor adjustments to the formulation. Therefore he calls for an „alliance of reason” in the sense of a stronger PV deployment.

According to the German Cleantech Institute (DCTI), the stable framework and market conditions for PV systems are one of the reasons why Austria represents a potential market for storage systems. A recent study published by the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien reports, that about 500 subsidized PV home storage systems were installed in Austria last year. This is about the same number as in the years 2014 and 2015. Over the same period, 900 more storage systems have been installed without any federal funding.