ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- In spite of declining subsidies and tax benefits, 2011 renounced all pessimistic predictions and set a new record with 880 Megawatt new installed PV modules in Belgium.
Early 2011, experts feared the solar market would collapse due to decreasing subsidies. "But prices also decreased and in retrospect all panic was for nothing. In Flanders 600 Megawatt was installed and in the entire country 880 Megawatt, making 2011 the best year ever,” claims CEO Alex Polfliet of the company Zero Emission Solutions.
Polfliet is the author of several books on renewable energy and served ten years as an advisor for the state secretary of energy, before starting his own company.
According to Polfliet, in 2012 history will repeat itself. Even though the market is slow now, caused by negative media reports of tax benefits on solar panels being ended.
Polfliet: "Newspapers wrote that the payback period was extended with five years, but that’s not true. Prices dropped again so it takes people seven years to earn back their money on panels that last for twenty years.”
He predict the same growth in 2012 as in 2011. Especially in the industrial market, where companies still enjoy tax reductions. Polfliet is one of the speakers during the Solar Future conference, held on March 28th in Brussels.
(Photo : Solarplaza)
