Austria will stop paying for solar panels in 2027 and pay for controlled batteries instead
Victoria Shinder2 min readAustria's government set out on 6 October how it intends to replace its photovoltaic investment grants from 2027, two days before the last funding call under the current system opened on 8 October. The trigger is stated in the ministry's release: in the second call of 2026, the money ran out after 33 seconds, with almost 28,000 applications competing for funds that covered about 3,000 projects.
From panels to system behaviour. The classic grant for building a PV array is to be replaced by a storage system bonus. It would pay for batteries installed with new PV systems and for batteries retrofitted to existing ones — on one condition: an intelligent energy management system must run the battery according to defined grid- and system-friendly criteria. In the words of Energy State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner, what matters now is not only how much electricity is generated but how well it is integrated into the system.
From time slots to claims. Instead of calls that close within seconds, the plan is a continuous scheme in which applicants claim after the project is finished, modelled on Austria's craftsman's bonus. Installers would get a steadier order book instead of the stop-and-go around fixed dates. Projects with an intelligent storage system that missed out on funding in 2026 and are billed or commissioned from 1 November 2026 are meant to be able to apply under the new scheme in 2027.
An industrial condition. For a new storage system attached to a new PV installation, a Made in Europe inverter would become mandatory; for retrofits to existing PV, an additional Made in Europe bonus would remain possible. The ministry also says previously unused funds will be used to lower the EAG flat-rate charge on electricity bills slightly.
Still open. The bonus amount, the conditions and the technical criteria are being negotiated; the details will be set in the annual investment grant ordinance. The legal change needs a two-thirds majority in parliament, so the governing parties need opposition votes — Zehetner invited all parties to support it. Until then the current rules apply: the third and final 2026 call opened on 8 October and, according to the EAG funding office, stays open until 22 October. pv magazine, citing a ministry announcement on Friday 9 October, reported about 43,300 application tickets drawn in the first ten minutes of that call, against 24,900 in the summer round; we have not located that later release.
The point for grid operators is in the condition, not the subsidy level: a support scheme that pays only for batteries steered by an energy management system is a scheme that buys flexibility at the household connection rather than more midday peak.
Sources: APA-OTS, ministry press release of 6 October 2026 — https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20261006_OTS0018/zehetnerschmidtdoppelbauer-schluss-mit-33-sekunden-foerdercall-pv-foerderung-wird-systemfoerderung-fuer-speicher-intelligente-steuerung ; EAG funding office — https://www.eag-abwicklungsstelle.at/ ; pv magazine, 10 October 2026 — https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/10/10/austria-43300-applications-for-solar-subsidies-submitted-in-just-ten-minutes/