France: 12% reduction in subsidy rate for compulsory acquisition of solar power

The French government announced on the 23rd that the rate of the "Feed-inTariff (FIT)" subsidy will be reduced by 12% from September 1st, mainly because the cost of solar panels has fallen; this reduction measure does not include single-family houses. Installed solar panels. The French government also estimates that the installed solar power generation in the country by the end of 2010 will reach 850MW (million watts).

Barron`s, a well-known US financial weekly, reported that Jefferies analyst Jesse Pichel published a research report on the 24th, pointing out that France’s action to cut solar subsidies was already expected by the market. He believes this is also a necessary measure, mainly because solar battery panel prices have fallen sharply in the past 20 months. However, he believes that this measure will adversely affect EnergyConversionDevices (ENER) and FirstSolar; the exposure of the two companies to the French market is 22% and 12% respectively.