Short answer
What you need to know first.
In the City of Lucerne, PV incentives must be applied for before construction starts. The city base contribution is 20 percent of the Pronovo one-time remuneration; additional bonuses may apply for green-roof PV, steep systems from 75°, low-glare modules and heritage-related extra costs. Feed-in payments and incentives must be calculated separately.
Important
As of 2026, the City of Lucerne applies the hard boundary before construction starts: retroactive funding is excluded. This page is not a funding commitment; the application portal, the City of Lucerne, Pronovo and the responsible grid operator are authoritative for the specific property.
Decision points
What determines the right path.
The first decision is the deadline: the City of Lucerne requires the funding application before construction starts and expressly excludes retroactive funding. Anyone ordering material or installing before the application is properly filed risks losing the city contribution regardless of the system’s technical quality.
The base contribution is tied to Pronovo: the City of Lucerne pays an additional 20 percent of the federal one-time remuneration. System size, Pronovo category and city application therefore have to be considered together; the city does not replace Pronovo, it adds to the federal contribution.
On flat roofs, the construction determines the bonus: CHF 200 per installed kWp is available only if photovoltaics and the green roof use the same area and the mounting system does not hinder vegetation. Low-lying aerodynamic A-shaped systems are not eligible according to the City of Lucerne.
Steep systems and facades need their own check: from a 75° tilt, the City of Lucerne lists CHF 100 per m², and the installed capacity must reach at least 100 Wp per m². This particularly affects facades, steep roof areas and projects with a higher winter-electricity share.
Low-glare modules are not a blanket bonus: the City of Lucerne lists CHF 300 per installed kWp but requires glare evidence, for example via blendtool.ch, and product documents such as data sheet, luminance measurement and extra cost per module. Without this evidence, the bonus does not belong in the quote.
The feed-in payment is a second bucket: CKW refers for solar electricity to the BFE reference market price under Art. 15 EnFV and to minimum tariffs from 2026. This ongoing payment affects the economics, but it is not an investment funding commitment.
Sequence
How the project stays cleanly managed.
- 1
Define the propertyfirst check whether the building is in the City of Lucerne and whether the roof, facade or retaining wall will be used for photovoltaics. Only then can you decide whether the City of Lucerne bonuses are relevant in addition to Pronovo.
- 2
Clarify eligibility before the quotedecide whether the standard add-on of 20 percent of the Pronovo one-time remuneration is enough or whether green roof, 75° facade, low-glare modules or heritage-related extra costs belong in the design.
- 3
Prepare attachmentslow-glare modules require glare evidence and product documentation; for the heritage bonus, extra costs versus reference costs matter. These documents need to be concrete enough before submission, otherwise the funding amount remains uncertain.
- 4
Submit the applicationthe City of Lucerne points to the portal portal.energie-foerderung.ch/sl. User account, funding item, attachments and submission are handled there; the decisive project anchor remains submission before construction starts.
- 5
Run Pronovo and grid connection in parallelthe federal one-time remuneration runs through Pronovo, while grid connection and later feed-in payment are coordinated with the responsible grid operator such as CKW. Both tracks belong in the same schedule but are legally and financially separate.
- 6
Only then fix the quotethe quote should state funding assumptions clearly: Pronovo EIV, 20-percent city add-on, possible CHF/kWp or CHF/m² bonuses, document duties and the boundary that funding decisions are not guaranteed by the installer.
- 7
Settle after commissioningafter installation, grid connection and commissioning, the final documents for Pronovo, the City of Lucerne and the grid operator are completed. For ongoing economics, the CKW feed-in payment under the current tariff logic then also matters.
Checklist
Questions to settle before the quote.
- City add-on: plan an additional 20 percent of the Pronovo one-time remuneration
- Check bonus eligibility for green roofs, steep systems from 75° and low-glare modules before the quote
- Include the application portal, attachments and funding decision before construction starts in the project plan
- Assess CKW feed-in logic and the BFE reference market price separately from investment incentives
FAQ
Common questions on this topic.
Sources
Official sources & references.
The responsible authorities are decisive. Always verify binding details – amounts, deadlines and conditions – for your specific property against the current status of the respective authority.