The earnings decline facing solar parks as old tariffs expire

A solar park can keep producing electricity long after the tariff supporting its original investment has expired. For 7C Solarparken, the approaching change is large enough to reshape the earnings of its existing fleet, even as the company adds generating capacity and prepares to install batteries. ^[16]

In its September 2025 roadmap, the German-focused operator projected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from its existing portfolio of 494MWp falling from €49m in 2026 to €28m in 2030. The roughly 43 per cent reduction was linked to older projects leaving their original tariffs and selling into a market-price scenario of €47 per megawatt hour. ^[15]

The dates and scope are important. These are projections made in 2025 for the existing portfolio, not reported 2026 results or forecasts for the whole future group. They exclude the full effect of the additional solar capacity and batteries the company intended to build. Even on that basis, the figures show how much new earnings would be needed merely to offset the decline in older assets. ^[15]

Germany long used fixed support periods to give renewable generators a predictable return from their output. Guidance from the Clearingstelle EEG KWKG explains that commissioning determines the support rate and starts the twenty-year remuneration period. The precise treatment depends on the installation and applicable rules, but the economic issue for an ageing fleet is straightforward: continued physical production does not preserve the original selling price. ^[17]

That creates a different investment problem from building a new solar park. An owner has to decide how much further spending an older site justifies, what electricity it can sell and for how long. Replacing equipment may increase production or extend life, but the resulting cash flows must support the additional investment. A high historic margin gives little certainty about that calculation after the tariff ends.

7C has described a response based partly on using its existing grid connections for battery storage and adding new solar projects. Its original roadmap put growth spending on additional PV at €22m through 2030. Batteries and repowering offer ways to generate new revenue, although they introduce their own construction, operating and financing requirements. ^[15]

The more recent figures show a business with time to make those choices. In its September 2026 release, 7C reported first-half EBITDA of €28.9m and confirmed full-year guidance of €50m. Its portfolio had reached 504MWp and net debt had fallen to €87.4m. It said €26m of spending was committed for 2026 and 2027, covering 34MW of batteries with 78MWh of storage and 18MWp of new solar capacity. ^[16]

The balance sheet and the tariff expiry should therefore be assessed separately. A manageable debt position can give an owner room to adapt without removing the reduction in revenue from older parks. Conversely, falling earnings from those parks need not mean the assets are worthless: their continuing output, land rights and grid connections can still have value.

The same distinction applies to investors using a recent cash-flow yield to assess a mature renewable portfolio. They need to know how much of the cash is available after debt repayment and maintenance, and how much reflects a tariff that ends on a known date. Valuing a finite stream as though it continues indefinitely can give a misleading impression of the return available.

For 7C, the useful comparison over the coming years will be the earnings lost as older tariffs expire against the cash earned on the capital committed to their replacement. More capacity can help. The investment test is whether that spending produces an adequate return after the old support has gone.