The effective date of Germany's new incentive cuts may be moved back to April 1, 2012 from the scheduled date March 9, said industry sources. The consideration of moving the date back is likely due to growing opposition in the supply chain and by local governments, added industry sources.

In addition to the possible changes to the effective date, industry sources noted that the magnitude of feed-in-tariff (FIT) cuts for large-size solar PV systems above 1MW may be under renegotiation.

However, if Germany changes the effective date back to April 1, there will be a surge of demand in March, said industry sources, which the Germany government is trying to prevent.

The supply chain has not been the only party protesting, some local governments are concerned about the impact of the incentive cuts on the local economies. Some have suggested the the new policies should be abandoned.