Solar power in Germany

Germany has been among the

with capacities over 100 MW.

According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, in 2022, Germany generated 60.8 TWh from solar power, or 11% of Germany's gross electricity consumption.^[11]: 6

The country is increasingly producing more electricity at specific times with high

A decline in spot-prices may however raise the electricity prices for retail customers, as the spread of the guaranteed feed-in tariff and spot-price increases as well.^[4]: 17 As the combined share of fluctuating wind and solar is approaching 17 per cent on the national electricity mix,^{[citation needed]} other issues are becoming more pressing and others more feasible. These include adapting the electrical grid, constructing new grid-storage capacity, dismantling and altering fossil and nuclear power plants—brown coal and nuclear power are the country's cheapest suppliers of electricity, according to today's calculations—and to construct a new generation of combined heat and power plants.^[4]: 7

History

Germany was one of the first countries to deploy grid-scale PV power. In 2004, Germany was the first country, together with Japan, to reach 1 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity. Since 2004 solar power in Germany has been growing considerably due to the country's feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, which were introduced by the German Renewable Energy Sources Act, and declining PV costs.

Prices of PV systems/solar power system decreased more than 50% in the 5 years since 2006.^[15] By 2011, solar PV provided 18 TWh of Germany's electricity, or about 3% of the total.^[16] That year the federal government set a target of 66 GW of installed solar PV capacity by 2030,^[17] to be reached with an annual increase of 2.5–3.5 GW,^[18] and a goal of 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2050.^[19]

More than 7 GW of PV capacity were installed annually during the record years of 2010, 2011 and 2012. For this period, the installed capacity of 22.5 GW represented almost 30% of the worldwide deployed photovoltaics.

Since 2013, the number of new installations declined significantly due to more restrictive governmental policies.

About 1.5 million

^: 5

It's estimated that by 2017 over 70% of the country's jobs in the solar industry have been lost in the solar sector in recent years.

A boom in small, residential balcony-mounted solar systems has been reported in the early 2020s.[20]^[21][22]

Governmental policies

As of 2012^[update], the feed-in tariff (FiT) costs about €14 billion (US$18 billion) per year for wind and solar installations. The cost is spread across all rate-payers in a surcharge of 3.6 €ct (4.6 ¢) per kWh^[24] (approximately 15% of the total domestic cost of electricity).^[25] On the other hand, as expensive peak power plants are displaced, the price at the power exchange is reduced due to the so-called

Germany set a world record for solar power production with 25.8 GW produced at midday on 20 and 21 April 2015.[27]

According to the solar power industry, a feed-in tariff is the most effective means of developing solar power.^[28] It is the same as a power purchase agreement, but is at a much higher rate. As the industry matures, it is reduced and becomes the same as a power purchase agreement. A feed-in tariff allows investors a guaranteed return on investment – a requirement for development. A primary difference between a tax credit and a feed-in tariff is that the cost is borne the year of installation with a tax credit, and is spread out over many years with a feed-in tariff. In both cases the incentive cost is distributed over all consumers. This means that the initial cost is very low for a feed-in tariff and very high for a tax credit. In both cases the learning curve reduces the cost of installation, but is not a large contribution to growth, as grid parity is still always reached.^[29]

Since the end of the boom period, national PV market has since declined significantly, due to the amendments in the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) that reduced feed-in tariffs and set constraints on utility-scaled installations, limiting their size to no more than 10 kW.^[30]

The previous version of the EEG only guaranteed financial assistance as long as the PV capacity had not yet reached 52 GW. This limit has now been removed. It also foresees to regulate annual PV growth within a range of 2.5 GW to 3.5 GW by adjusting the guaranteed fees accordingly. The legislative reforms stipulates a 40 to 45 per cent share from renewable energy sources by 2025 and a 55 to 60 per cent share by 2035.^[31]

As of November 2016^[update], tenants in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will soon be able to benefit from the PV panels mounted on the buildings in which they live. The state government has introduced measures covering the self-consumption of power, allowing tenants to acquire the electricity generated onsite more cheaply than their regular utility contracts stipulate.^[32][33]

Grid capacity and stability issues

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In 2017, approximately 9 GW of photovoltaic plants in Germany were being retrofitted to shut down^[34] if the frequency increases to 50.2 Hz, indicating an excess of electricity on the grid. The frequency is unlikely to reach 50.2 Hz during normal operation, but can if Germany is exporting power to countries that suddenly experience a power failure. This leads to a surplus of generation in Germany, that is transferred to rotating load and generation, which causes system frequency to rise. This happened in 2003 and 2006.^[35][36][37]

However, power failures could not have been caused by photovoltaics in 2006, as solar PV played a negligible role in the German energy mix at that time.

Potential

Solar potential

Germany has about the same solar potential as Alaska, which has an average of 3.08 sun hours/day in Fairbanks.^{[citation needed]}

Statistics

The history of Germany's installed photovoltaic capacity, its average power output, produced electricity, and its share in the overall consumed electricity, showed a steady, exponential growth for more than two decades up to about 2012. ^{[dubious – discuss]} Solar PV capacity doubled on average every 18 months in this period; an annual growth rate of more than 50 per cent. Since about 2012 growth has slowed down significantly.

Generation

Year	Capacity (MW)	Net annual generation (GWh)	% of gross electricity consumption	Capacity Factor (%)
1990	2	1	2e-04	5.7
1991	2	1	2e-04	5.7
1992	6	4	7e-04	7.6
1993	9	3	6e-04	3.8
1994	12	7	0.001	6.7
1995	18	7	0.001	4.4
1996	28	12	0.002	4.9
1997	42	18	0.003	4.9
1998	54	35	0.006	7.4
1999	70	30	0.005	4.9
2000	114	60	0.01	6.0
2001	176	76	0.013	4.9
2002	296	162	0.028	6.2
2003	435	313	0.052	8.2
2004	1105	557	0.091	5.8
2005	2056	1282	0.21	7.1
2006	2899	2220	0.36	8.7
2007	4170	3075	0.49	8.4
2008	6120	4420	0.72	8.2
2009	10566	6583	1.13	7.1
2010	18006	11729	1.9	7.4
2011	25916	19599	3.23	8.6
2012	34077	26220	4.35	8.8
2013	36710	30020	5.13	9.6
2014	37900	34735	6.08	10.9
2015	39224	37330	6.5	11.3
2016	40679	36820	6.4	10.7
2017	42293	38001	6.6	10.6
2018	45158	43451	7.7	11.6
2019	48864	44334	8.2	11.1
2020	54403	48525	8.9	10.1
2021	60108	48373	8.7	9.1
2022	67399	59596	11.1	10.1

Source:

^: 16–41

Note: This table does not show net consumption but gross electricity consumption, which includes self-consumption of nuclear and coal-fire power plants. In 2014, net consumption stood at about 6.9% (vs. 6.1% for gross consumption).[4]^: 5