The regulatory changes could drive renewables development, said Peter Eriksson, minister for housing and digital development under the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, in an online statement.
Building requirements for PV systems vary throughout the country, as they have thus far been determined by municipal authorities.
The potential regulatory changes for solar are part of a broader package of newly simplified building regulations that the national government is promoting.
In November, the Swedish authorities revealed plans to reduce the tax on the self-consumption of solar-generated electricity for owners of PV systems that exceed 255 kW in size, from €0.03/kWh to €0.05/kWh.
Owners of PV systems above 255 kW will still be required to pay a tax rate of €0.03/kWh for self-consumed electricity.
The move is part of the country’s push to become 100% renewable by 2040.
However, Sweden’s cumulative PV installations remain negligible, at roughly 110 MW by the end of 2015, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Future growth will likely be dominated by small PV systems rather than large projects, as demand will be primarily driven by self consumption, according to the Swedish Solar Energy Association.
The government has already started to lay the groundwork for greater self consumption of PV-generated electricity.
Last November, it unveiled plans to offer a subsidy that will cover 60% of the cost of installing residential storage systems, up to a maximum of 50,000 kronor ($5,670).
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
I am sorry, but I have to inform the readers that there are some wrong facts in this article. Firstly, the Swedish government has not yet made any changes to the building permit laws. What they have communicated is that they want to initiate a governmental investigation in how to change the rules so that homeowners in the future no longer will be required to obtain a permit to install PV modules. But the actual law changes are still quite far into the future.
The second thing I reacted over is that the article states that “In November, the Swedish authorities revealed plans to effectively eliminate taxes on solar installations above 255 kW in size, as part of the country’s push to become 100% renewable by 2040”.
This is not correct. What the government plan to do is to reduce the energy tax from 3 to 0,05 eurocents on self-consumed electricity for PV system owners that own several PV systems that together exceeds 255 kW. Individual PV systems over 255 kW will still need to pay 3 eurocents/kWh on the self-consumed electricity. This change therefore neither affects systems over 255 kW or eliminate all taxes on solar installations.