reduced these subsidies because of the belief that it has run long enough to be self-financed. Regarding this matter, it has to be clarified that the funding does not necessarily have to come from the government; other third parties could be the source of funding as well. Nonetheless, if this is the case, government consent and support is still necessary. Therefore it becomes apparent that there is no way to circumvent the government when it comes to solar panel solutions, and stressing the need to take a closer look at their regulations.
Among the positive interventions, besides the already mentioned government subsidies are grants that are provided to end-consumers. These grants help to improve the economic feasibility of solar panel solutions, because it reduces the investment costs for potential buyers. Thereby it becomes clear that the government has supportive regulations on both the end of the manufacturer and the end-consumer. Furthermore, although not directly related to cold storage facilities, the government wants new buildings to be powered for 3 to 10% by solar energy. At the very least this will lead to a higher awareness of solar panel functionalities and applications, which in turn may lead to helpful insights regarding the solar powered cold storage facilities.
Unfortunately, on the other side of the spectrum the government also imposes negative regulations that do not further the implementation of solar panel solutions. For instance, a high taxation on high energy consuming electric units and devices definitely hinders the promotion of innovation. Indeed this also applies to solar driven appliances such as solar fridges. Remarkably solar panels are not taxable, only the fridges (i.e. electric devices) have high taxes. To clarify the problem with more exact numbers, it has been communicated that the government imposes a stunningly high import duty of up to 400% for high energy consuming electric units and devices. Obviously this is one of the reasons why the solar panel cold storage solutions are not economically feasible as mentioned in the previous section. On top of that, it can be stated that the problem of not being able to sell back to the grid flows from unfavourable government regulations as well. As mentioned by some of the respondents, the government does not provide the opportunity for individual families to sell back to the grid.
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