Germany forces every 100-kilowatt solar plant onto a private power trader — the trader sets the fee, and the switch takes ten days plus a new meter.
Germany's Direktvermarktungspflicht — the legal duty for any solar or wind plant above 100 kWp to sell its electricity through a private power trader on the wholesale spot market — already bites today. In April 2026 the new Union/SPD coalition agreed an EEG-Novelle (an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act) that staircases the threshold down: 90 kWp from January 2027, 75 kWp from January 2028, 25 kWp from January 2029. Once a plant is enrolled, the trader sets the fee; once the fee climbs, switching takes ten business days and a new meter.
01The pain
A German solar roof above 100 kilowatts peak cannot sell its own electricity. The owner must hand it to a Direktvermarkter — a private power trader who sells the kilowatt-hours on the wholesale spot market and pays back a top-up called the Marktprämie (market premium, which closes the gap to the EEG reference rate fixed at commissioning). The rule is called the Direktvermarktungspflicht.1 In April 2026 the Union/SPD coalition agreed an EEG-Novelle (an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act) staircasing the threshold down: 90 kWp from January 2027, 75 kWp from January 2028, 25 kWp from January 2029.2
Once enrolled, the operator is squeezed on two sides. The trader sets the fee (typically €0.50 to €5 per megawatt-hour plus a monthly base charge), and operators on the Photovoltaikforum (the main German solar-operator board) report fee hikes of several hundred percent inside one contract term.3 Switching takes ten business days of re-registration with the regional grid operator plus a fresh metering point. One operator got six weeks' notice when their trader terminated a 750 kW contract: too short to source a replacement.4
The arithmetic gets ugly. Captured market values dropped to 1.84 cents per kilowatt-hour in June 2025, so a trader's €3,000-a-year fee can wipe out the entire market-premium uplift on a sub-megawatt system.2 Direktvermarktung, today, is not a model that pays.
Further reading
- 1 logicenergy.de — "EEG-Vergütung 2026: Der vollständige Leitfaden für Investoren und Unternehmen": industry-explainer covering the 100 kWp Direktvermarktungspflicht boundary, the anzulegender Wert reference rate and the Marktprämie mechanic (German): logicenergy.de
- 2 energiezukunft.eu — "EEG-Novelle 2026: Direktvermarktung ist derzeit kein lohnendes Modell für PV-Dachanlagen" (4 February 2026): trade-press coverage of the Fraunhofer ISE / Elektrizitätswerke Schönau study showing small rooftop PV needs roughly fifteen percent higher self-consumption to match feed-in tariff cash flow under Direktvermarktung (German): energiezukunft.eu
- 3 photovoltaikforum.com — "Kosten von Direktvermarktern vergleichen lohnt sich!" thread: 17-month operator discussion of marketing fees, monthly base charges, and contract-term fee hikes; sample posters include SUNTRADE24 (66 kWp), Schmicks (14 kWp), mctobler, Bosse33 (German): photovoltaikforum.com
- 4 photovoltaikforum.com — "unter 100 kwp Direktvermarktung?" thread: utility-scale and sub-100 kWp operators discussing the 100 kWp Direktvermarktungspflicht boundary, switch-out logistics and metering-point requirements; posters include blacki (1,222 kWp) and Dachbesitzer (159.1 kWp) (German): photovoltaikforum.com
- 5 photovoltaikforum.com — "Direktvermarktung von Klein-Anlagen bei Lumenaza" thread (page 242): long-running operator thread on small-plant Direktvermarktung mechanics, fee structures and exit decisions (German): photovoltaikforum.com
02Who solves this today
Four German-market Direktvermarkter that publicly market Direktvermarktung services to sub-megawatt PV and wind operators — the exact size class that the EEG-Novelle 2026 staircase pulls into the regime by 2029. Each homepage was checked live on the date of writing. The list is intentionally narrow; the long tail of municipal-utility back-office partners is excluded.
Adjacent vendors were considered. Energy2market (e2m), In.power and MVV Trading Hub all market Direktvermarktung publicly in the German market but their homepages timed out or failed DNS resolution from this environment on the date of writing and could not be verified — they are real participants in the wedge and may be added when reachable. Tibber is excluded because it markets dynamic end-customer tariffs rather than producer-side Direktvermarktung. The Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) and Fraunhofer ISE are referenced in section 01 as the national grid regulator and the research institute respectively, not third-party solution providers.
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Operators discussing this
These are real German PV operators talking about Direktvermarktung fees, contract terms, and exits on the Photovoltaikforum — in their own words. They are the reason this page exists.
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«Die Tarife scheinen gleich zu bleiben: 3% Gebühr, die Vermarktungskosten bleiben variabel. … Bei mir war das ein Minusgeschäft. Darum bin ich raus.»
"The rates seem to stay the same: 3% fee, the marketing costs remain variable. … For me it was a losing business. That's why I got out."
Direktvermarktung von Klein-Anlagen bei Lumenaza — Seite 242 · Photovoltaikforum — 242+ page running thread; 5 distinct German PV operators on the single page sampled (Stefan12345 at 102 kWp, InaktiverUser, dna, Soleil-2021 at 29.93 kWp, PV im Tal), thread spans years with the sampled page dated July–August 2024.
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«Für die Vermarktung meines Stroms nimmt mein Direktvermarkter… ca. 175 € pro Monat. Das ist schon eine ganz schöne Summe!»
"For the marketing of my electricity my Direktvermarkter charges… about €175 per month. That's already quite a sum!"
Kosten von Direktvermarktern vergleichen lohnt sich! · Photovoltaikforum — 4 distinct operators (SUNTRADE24 at 66 kWp, Schmicks at 14 kWp, mctobler, Bosse33); opened 26 March 2024, latest post 5 August 2025 — a 17-month arc, latest post 280 days old.