European countries including the U.K., Italy and France have accelerated cuts for solar subsidies in the past year to adapt to falling product prices and limit runaway growth [for energy subsidies, that is].
Bloomberg reports:
Germany’s parliament approved record cuts in aid for solar power, aiming to reduce the annual pace of installations by half in the world’s biggest market for the industry.
Subsidies will be cut by as much as 29 percent starting April 1, depending on the size of the solar plant, according to the legislation posted on the parliament’s website. The measure passed by 305 votes to 235 on the strength of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition majority…
Subsidies are by definition NOT ‘sustainable.’
The German company Q-Cells, once the largest solar module manufacturer in the world, lost 850 million euros and is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, with no hope of a rescue.
http://notrickszone.com/2012/03/30/green-bloodbath-accelerates-german-solar-giant-q-cells-on-the-brink-of-collapse/