Germany Sets New Solar Record

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Germany continues to outshine the rest of Europe in solar power capacity with 2012 marking another record year for the industry.

Despite government cuts to the subsidies, or Feed-in-Tarrifs (FiTs), made available to solar power developers, a record number of panels were added last year. Figures from the grid regulator, Bundesnetzagentur and the German Environment Ministry, show that solar installations topped 7,634-megawatts (MW) last year, a rise of 2% over the total installed in 2011. In 2011, the total stood at 7,485 MW and at around 7,400 in 2010.

Germany's solar dominance in Europe, and globally, is down to generous government subsidies which the government has been repeatedly reducing in order to slow down the growth. New cuts coming into effect in Q4 2012 did impact growth, which fell by 66% against the same period in 2011. However, the industry still managed to install more than double the government's target of 3,500 MW for 2012. This year, the government is expecting solar growth to be reduced to around 4,000-4,500 MW.

The growth has been attributed to the falling costs of solar panels. According to Germany's Federal Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar), the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels had halved in the last three years.

"Germany is now reaping the fruits of its efforts in solar technology," commented Carsten Koernig, chief executive of the Federal Solar Industry Federation. "Their share of the power supply has quadrupled in just three years. Over that same period the price of new solar power systems has halved."

"Europe continues to dominate the world's growing solar photovoltaic (PV) market, accounting for two thirds of all new solar capacity installed during 2011. Figures from the European Commission's (E.C.'s) Joint Research Centre (JRC), released last September, show that over the past 10 years the PV industry in Europe has grown by an average of over 40% per year while production costs have decreased by around 60%. In 2011, Europe saw 18,500 MW of new solar capacity installed, bringing its PV total to 52,000 MW. For additional information, see August 21, 2012, article - Europe Outshines World in Solar Power.

Germany already produces around 5% of its electricity from solar power. By the end of this decade that figure will reach 10% and, by 2030, BSW-Solar predicts that solar will account for 20% of all of Germany's electricity.

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