Solar Peak Act 2025 – Turning point for photovoltaics and storage in Germany
Imagine your PV system is running at full speed and the electricity is generating €0. That's exactly what happened for 457 hours in 2024. The Solar Peak Power Act 2025 —a key amendment to the Energy Industry Act—has been in effect since February 25, 2025 .
Objective: Avoid overproduction, ensure grid stability and accelerate the transition to intelligent, self-consumption-oriented PV systems .
In short: completely new economic conditions now apply to new PV systems.
1. Negative electricity prices = No feed-in tariff
If the price on the EPEX spot market falls below zero, the feed-in tariff for newly commissioned PV systems will no longer apply.
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This means that without storage, operators are wasting their solar power during these hours.
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A compensation mechanism counts these zero-payment periods as 50% of the funding period – mitigating the long-term effect but not changing the number of lost hours.
Strategic recommendation:
With a battery storage system, surplus energy can be temporarily stored during negative price phases and fed into the grid later, at better prices, or used directly.
2.Smart meter mandatory – otherwise only 60% feed-in
New PV systems between 7 - 25 kW without an intelligent electricity meter ( iMSys ) may feed a maximum of 60% of their rated power into the grid.
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With a smart meter installed, this limitation no longer applies.
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With storage, these losses can be almost completely avoided.
Simulation values:
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East-West orientation: approx. 1% loss
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South-facing: up to 9% loss
Extra advantage: Smart meters provide access to dynamic tariffs, precise load management, and optimized yields.
3.Small PV systems in the electricity market
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Even systems under 100 kWp can now participate in direct marketing.
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Opportunities: Selling at high market prices, “charge cheap – sell expensive” in combination with storage.
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Risks: No fixed remuneration, therefore market monitoring and energy management necessary.
4.Storage as the new standard
The law does not directly require battery storage – but makes it economically indispensable:
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Bridging zero-pay periods.
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Optimize your own consumption.
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Profit from price fluctuations.
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Use subsidies for mains charging as well.
Conclusion: Large PV systems without storage lose competitiveness.
What does this mean for installers, dealers and operators?
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New systems : Offer PV, storage, EMS and smart meters directly as a complete package.
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Existing systems : Check the economic viability of storage and meter upgrades.
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Specialist partner : Positioning storage-based solutions as the new industry standard.
Practical example – Sunpura S2400 series
The Sunpura S2400, a storage system built precisely for this market environment:
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AC & DC coupling : ideal for retrofitting and new construction
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Modularly expandable: 2.4 kWh per battery, up to 9.6 kWh (S2400 Plus: 14.4 kWh)
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Smart meter & tariff integration with Homewizard, Shelly, Tibber and others
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VDE-AR-N 4105 & EN50549 compliant , suitable for DE, NL, BE.
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Almost zero feed-in for maximum self-consumption.
With PV, storage, EMS and smart meter in one package, the S2400 fits perfectly with the new market design of the Solar Peak Energy Act.
Conclusion
In 2025, the Solar Peak Act sets a clear change of course for the solar industry.
From “feed in & collect” to “generate, store & optimize”.
Those who make this change now will not only increase their energy independence but also secure better returns in the long term
