Germany's government is in "very constructive" talks with the solar industry and government parties about additional cuts in solar energy subsidizes this year, environment ministry spokeswoman Christiane Schwarte said Friday.

Talks "aren't completed yet," Schwarte said at a regular government press conference, without specifying how high the extraordinary cut could be.

German daily Boersenzeitung earlier Friday had said the government and industry groups are close to agreeing a 12% additional cut of solar feed-in rates this year.

Solar energy subsidies have already been lowered by 13% at the beginning of the year as part of a regular annual subsidy cut foreseen in German renewable energy legislation as solar technology becomes more mature and cheaper.

But the government is concerned solar subsidies could get out of control as despite the regular annual cuts, they are still generous enough to have caused a boom in German solar installations. Renewable energy subsidies in Germany are paid by all electricity consumers via power prices.

To reign in the boom, the government in 2010 had already cut solar feed-in rates extraordinarily by 13% in July, and by another 3% in October.
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