
182 PV Today and Forever
No wonder that profits reached even greater highs when the
FIT as defined by law remained high while module prices, which
represent more than 50 percent of the overall plant costs, hit rock
bottom. In Germany, small investors who for tax reasons were used
to investing in the shipping industry, switched to the PV sector in
2009. Profits of well over 10 percent on the investment were not un-
usual that year. A rule of thumb in Germany says that the net system
price must not exceed 10 times the yearly income through the FIT to
achieve a profit between 5 and 8 percent. That was much better in
2009, a year that stood out for its unprecedented ...