Investing in solar parks: revenues, costs and tax leverage at a glance

A solar park is a large photovoltaic installation on open land: rows of modules on grassland, farmland or converted sites, feeding electricity into the grid. What was a niche topic for project developers fifteen years ago is today the backbone of Germany's photovoltaic build-out, and at the same time a real asset in its own right, with ongoing electricity revenues and, in the case of an entrepreneurial holding, a tax lever. The obvious question follows: how does a private individual get in, and what sits behind it economically?

What exactly is a solar park?

A solar park, technically a ground-mounted photovoltaic installation, is a power plant made up of thousands of solar modules on one contiguous area. As a rule of thumb, one megawatt of installed capacity needs around one hectare of land; per hectare, a modern park in Germany generates roughly 0.8 to 1.2 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. A mid-sized 20-megawatt park therefore occupies around 20 hectares and, in arithmetical terms, supplies thousands of households. The land itself usually remains grassland: vegetation grows between and beneath the module rows, often kept in check by grazing sheep.

The scale of the market: by mid-2026, around 124.5 gigawatts of photovoltaics were installed in Germany, with roughly 7.4 gigawatts added in the first half of 2026 alone, around 60 % of that on open land. The statutory build-out target is 215 gigawatts by 2030. The build-out is thus structurally shifting from rooftops to open land, because large installations are considerably cheaper to build and operate per kilowatt. It is precisely these economies of scale that make solar parks interesting for investors.

How does a solar park make money?

A solar park earns its money by selling the electricity it generates, typically through a combination of three building blocks. First, the EEG tender: ground-mounted installations bid in regular tender rounds run by the Federal Network Agency for an award that secures a reference tariff over 20 years. In the tender round of March 2026, the average award value was 4.94 ct/kWh (range 3.99 to 5.10 ct); for the July 2026 round, the Federal Network Agency set the ceiling price at 5.90 ct/kWh. Such an award acts like a safety net beneath the revenues.

Second, direct marketing: installations above 100 kWp must sell their electricity on the market themselves anyway, usually via a direct marketer on the power exchange. The EEG support tops up the difference to the award value as a sliding market premium; if the market price is higher, the plant earns correspondingly more. Third, the long-term power purchase agreement (PPA): here the park sells its electricity for years at a contractually fixed price to an offtaker, an industrial company, say, plannable, but dependent on the counterparty's creditworthiness. How reliable this revenue base of award or PPA is, is the single most important revenue question of any project.

One regulatory change every newcomer should know: the so-called solar peak law (Solarspitzengesetz). For new installations commissioned since 25 February 2025, the EEG payment lapses in quarter-hours with negative exchange prices, in other words exactly when more solar power is generated at midday than the market can absorb. In return, the affected periods are appended to the end of the support period. For project economics this means: the pure midday peak is worth less than it used to be, and projects that can steer their feed-in flexibly or combine it with a battery storage system are at an advantage. How negative electricity prices arise, and what they concretely mean for project calculations, is explored in depth by Negative electricity prices: what they mean for solar and storage investors.

How can you invest in a solar park?

As with other energy real assets, there are essentially four routes in. They differ not only in the minimum outlay, but fundamentally in what you are invested in:

Shares and ETFs of solar groups are the most liquid but most impersonal route: you hold stakes in companies of the sector, not in a German solar park and its revenues. Funds pool capital into a portfolio, professionally managed, but with several fee layers and usually no direct §7g effect. Crowdinvesting invests you through subordinated loans at a fixed rate, but with no stake in the asset. The direct investment, finally, makes you an entrepreneurial co-owner of the plant, usually as a limited partner in a project company: a direct link to the real revenues, and the only route with a tax lever. This route is open to employees as well, either via a small business of their own or via a stake in such a company; the conditions are set out in Investitionsabzugsbetrag: all §7g EStG requirements, and who can use it. The four routes are compared in more detail using battery storage as the example in Investing in battery storage: the options at a glance; the difference between a direct investment and a fund wrapper is set out in detail in Direct investment or closed-end fund? The structural comparison.

What does a solar park cost, and what does it yield?

Large ground-mounted installations from around 10 megawatts cost, turnkey, in the order of 600 to 900 € per kilowatt of installed capacity; a 20-megawatt park thus lands roughly between 12 and 18 million euros. Ongoing operation runs at around 10 to 25 € per kilowatt per year, covering operations management, maintenance, insurance and administration; which policies sit behind that is explained in Insuring a solar park or battery storage asset: which policies belong to a direct investment, and who holds them. On top comes the land lease: solar land currently commands mostly 2,500 to 4,500 € per hectare per year, in sought-after locations with grid access around 5,000 €. For comparison: classic farmland leases average around 400 € per hectare across Germany. That gap explains why farmers and municipalities make land available, and it is at the same time a relevant cost block in any calculation.

What is left for the investor in the end depends on the specific project: on the site's irradiation and yield forecast, on the mix of EEG revenues, PPA and merchant sales, on purchase price, lease and financing, and on the individual tax situation. For energy direct investments, equity returns (IRR) of roughly 7 to 10 % are discussed in the market, as a scenario, not a promise. We give no return promises; a guaranteed percentage on a marketing sheet is a warning sign rather than a seal of quality. What is serious is a calculation that discloses its assumptions and shows sensitivities. Which yield figure from the assessment should be in it is explained in Reading a yield assessment: what P50 and P90 mean for a solar park direct investment.

Which tax lever applies to a solar park?

The tax lever applies only to the entrepreneurial direct investment, and it is the same one as for other energy real assets. One advantage of open land lies in the type of installation itself: the exemption under §3 no. 72 EStG, which strips small rooftop systems of any depreciation, applies only to systems on, at or in buildings and therefore never covers a solar park; the distinction is explained in Deducting photovoltaics from tax: when depreciation and the §7g deduction still work. Because you are invested in the depreciable asset itself, you can claim the investment deduction (IAB) under §7g EStG of up to 50 % ahead of the acquisition, and in the investment year use the special depreciation (Sonder-AfA) under §7g(5) EStG plus regular depreciation. Together these effects pull a substantial part of the investment forward for tax purposes into the first years: the tax burden in the investment year falls, and the liquidity freed up carries part of the equity. The worked example is in IAB under §7g EStG: example calculation for battery storage; how this lever fits into the legal tax strategies for high earners is shown in Legally reducing your tax: the most effective strategies. Important: the IAB carries its own conditions and deadlines, and the concrete structuring belongs with your tax adviser in every case. This article does not replace tax advice.

What are the risks of a solar park investment?

• Power price and marketing risk: revenues above the EEG base depend on the volatile exchange price; more frequent negative prices around midday weigh on pure solar profiles.
• Regulatory risk: rules like the solar peak law show that the framework can change even after the fact, mostly for new installations, but with an effect on calculations.
• Project and grid connection risk: between planning and commissioning lie permits, construction time and the often lengthy grid connection; delays cost revenue. How to recognise a secured site and connection can be checked against the project documents.
• Counterparty and operator risk: PPA offtakers, general contractors and operations managers must deliver for years; their creditworthiness and quality are part of the investment.
• Illiquidity and risk of loss: a direct investment cannot be sold on a daily basis and remains an entrepreneurial holding with a corresponding risk of loss.

None of these risks argues against solar parks as such; they come with every entrepreneurial energy investment. What matters is whether a provider discloses them openly and makes them visible in the calculation, instead of letting them disappear behind a marketing return. How to recognise serious providers is shown in How to tell a trustworthy provider of energy direct investments; which costs must appear in a transparent calculation is set out in Transparent costs: which fees a direct investment involves, and which ones are hidden. What happens after the 20 EEG years end (continued operation, repowering or decommissioning) is covered in A solar park after 20 years: continued operation, repowering or decommissioning?.

Solar park, agri-PV or battery storage?

Solar parks, agri-PV and battery storage are not competitors but three building blocks of the same energy transition with different profiles. The classic solar park is the volume workhorse: proven technology, a plannable EEG/PPA revenue base, but fully exposed to the solar profile with its midday peak. Agri-PV combines electricity generation with continued farming and a dedicated tender segment, set out in Investing in agrivoltaics: dual land use, revenues and tax leverage at a glance. Battery storage earns precisely from the volatility that weighs on the solar park, and thus has a complementary risk-reward profile; the revenue logic is in Battery storage returns: where the revenue comes from, and what is realistic. How a photovoltaic stake compares with the classic rental property is examined in Solar or property as an investment: an honest comparison of two real assets; how energy assets fit into the wider real-asset family is shown in Real assets as inflation protection: what actually protects and where energy assets fit in. In the end, what matters is less the asset class than the quality of the individual project and provider.

Whom does a solar park investment suit?

• Small entry, full flexibility: shares & ETFs, from just a few euros, tradable any time, but with no link to the concrete plant and no tax lever.
• Diversification with limited effort: funds, pooled across several projects, but fee-laden and tied up long term.
• Fixed return, low threshold: crowdinvesting, small outlay and a predictable rate, but subordinated risk and no real asset.
• High earners with a tax burden and a real-asset focus: direct investment, higher outlay and entrepreneurial risk, but a real asset, plannable revenues and the §7g tax lever.

Whether a solar park suits you, and in what form, is, in the end, a question of outlay, time horizon and tax situation. In a non-binding first call we map out the options and, if it fits, work the direct investment through on your concrete numbers, with disclosed assumptions instead of a marketing figure.