A new solar system is expensive. The state actually supports this with a KfW loan – but it's not that easy to get.
Berlin – Easily generating your own electricity for your own household: With current electricity prices, this sounds tempting for many homeowners. In any case, by building their own solar system, homeowners can make themselves partially or even completely independent. But that's not cheap. As a rule, a photovoltaic (PV) system costs between 7000 and 12,000 euros. There is also a subsidy for this, but there is a catch.
KfW promotional loan: Numerous banks reject it
KfW's promotional loan for renewable energies is intended to help drive solar expansion. For this purpose, there are already loans from an annual percentage rate of 4.75 percent. The repayment of the loan is then made via the respective house bank. But this is where the big problem lies: because many banks do not get involved in the KfW deal. "We've never had this program before," a bank consultant told n-tv.de. He works with over 500 financial institutions – but not a single one offers the renewable energy loan.
"One of the reasons will certainly be that the program is not worth it. The administrative costs make this uneconomical for the banks," the bank advisor told the news portal. Thus, the loan exists, but for many bank customers it is hard to get. According to n-tv.de, the Sparda-Bank, the Bausparkasse Schwäbisch-Hall, the DKB, the DSL-Bank and several other savings banks and cooperative banks, among others, do not offer the subsidy at all.
Getting the loan for a solar system is not that easy. (Symbolic photo) © Smileus/stock.adobe.com
Solar system subsidies: "No bank wants to finance this"
Even in specialist forums on the subject, a number of house builders are frustrated. "You can hardly get hold of this 'great' promotion," writes one user. Another is annoyed: "Forget the KfW subsidy. I also wanted the KfW loan [...], no bank wants to finance it." According to KfW, there would be "no discrimination" and all target groups would be "equally entitled to apply", according to n-tv.de.
But in the end, it's the banks that decide. KfW advises perseverance here – but this is unlikely to be useful in very few cases. In the end, the house builders willing to use PV systems are left with the costs, or think twice about building the system. The latter is unlikely to be in the interest of Robert Habeck's solar plant expansion plan. (ph)
