Photograph of solar power screensRenewable energy
leasing is one of the assets which have been dealt a blow by recent
legislative changes.

The sector had boomed in the past
couple of years, thanks to a mix of legislative incentives and
reduction in solar equipment costs. Last year, UniCredit Leasing
financed one of the largest solar power plants in the Czech
Republic for a total
€5.1m.

However, the Czech government in
October 2010 approved measures which, if passed in parliament, will
among other things introduce a 26% tax on income generated from
ground-mounted PV installations with an installed capacity over 30
kW.

The tax will be applied
retroactively to all installations built in 2009 and 2010. The
bill, still under discussion, is said to prevent a sharp increase
in end-user electricity prices, but could result in a large number
of defaults.

The Czech Photovoltaic Association
estimates that as a result of the new tax, more than half of all
large-scale installations would go bankrupt.

Deutsche Leasing general manager
Uta Reichel said: “Government incentives meant that we had a bit of
solar plants business last year. With the law now changing,
conditions for financing power plants are not as attractive as
before – so in the future there might be some projects, but the
criteria will be quite higher going forward.”

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CSOB Leasing business development
and sales support director Ota Mandys said: “We have no business in
renewables and are quite lucky compared to other companies.

“The new tax is changing all the business plans for solar energy
and firms are uncertain about what will happen.”

 

See also:

Czech leasing off critical list

Czech market outlook for 2011

Credit, factoring and CCD dent
leasing