Solar power in Germany

Solar power Germany 2016 fact sheet: electricity generation, development, investments, capacity, employment and the public opinion.[1]
German electricity by source in 2023
Brown coalHard coalNatural gasWindSolarBiomassNuclearHydroOilOther
  •   Brown coal: 77.5 TW⋅h (17.7%)
  •   Hard coal: 36.05 TW⋅h (8.3%)
  •   Natural gas: 45.79 TW⋅h (10.5%)
  •   Wind: 139.77 TW⋅h (32.0%)
  •   Solar: 53.48 TW⋅h (12.2%)
  •   Biomass: 42.25 TW⋅h (9.7%)
  •   Nuclear: 6.72 TW⋅h (1.5%)
  •   Hydro: 19.48 TW⋅h (4.5%)
  •   Oil: 3.15 TW⋅h (0.7%)
  •   Other: 12.59 TW⋅h (2.9%)
Net generated electricity in 2023[2]

Solar power accounted for an estimated 12.2% of electricity production in Germany in 2023, up from 1.9% in 2010 and less than 0.1% in 2000.[3][4][5][6]

Germany has been among the world's top PV installer for several years, with total installed capacity amounting to 81.8 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2023.[7] Germany's 974 watts of solar PV per capita (2023) is the third highest in the world, behind only Australia and the Netherlands.[8] Germany's official government plans are to continuously increase renewables' contribution to the country's overall electricity consumption; current targets are 80% renewable electricity by 2030 and full decarbonization before 2040.[9]

Concentrated solar power (CSP), a solar power technology that does not use photovoltaics, has virtually no significance for Germany, as this technology demands much higher solar insolation. There is, however, a 1.5 MW experimental CSP-plant used for on-site engineering purposes rather than for commercial electricity generation, the Jülich Solar Tower owned by the German Aerospace Center. Germany's largest solar farms are located in Meuro, Neuhardenberg, and Templin 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.[10]: 6 

The country is increasingly producing more electricity at specific times with high solar irradiation than it needs, driving down spot-market prices[11] and exporting its surplus of electricity to its neighbouring countries, with a record exported surplus of 34 TWh in 2014.[12] 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 and to construct a new generation of combined heat and power plants.[4]: 7 

  1. ^ "GERMANY: SOLAR POWER FACTSHEET 2016". Strom-Report.
  2. ^ Burger, Bruno (3 January 2024). Öffentliche Nettostromerzeugung in Deutschland im Jahr 2023 [Public Net Electricity Generation in Germany in 2023] (PDF) (in German). Freiburg, Germany: Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Share of electricity generated by solar power: Germany". Our World In Data. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Recent facts about photovoltaics in Germany". Fraunhofer ISE. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Electricity production from solar and wind in Germany in 2014" (PDF). Germany: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. 21 July 2014. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference AGEE-stat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Anu Bhambhani (22 January 2024). "Germany's Official 2023 Solar Installations Exceed 14 GW". Taiyang News. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  8. ^ "Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2024" (PDF). International Energy Agency. April 2024. p. 7/25. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  9. ^ Kerstine Appunn, Freja Eriksen, Julian Wettengel (11 September 2024). "Germany's greenhouse gas emissions and energy transition targets". Clean Energy Wire. Retrieved 18 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Wirth, Harry; Ise, Fraunhofer (21 November 2023). "Recent Facts about Photovoltaics in Germany" (PDF). Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Freiburg: 99. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Electricity Spot-Prices and Production Data in Germany 2013" (PDF). fraunhofer.de.
  12. ^ "Electricity production from solar and wind in Germany in 2014 (German version)" (PDF). Germany: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. 5 January 2015. pp. 2, 3, 6. Retrieved 5 January 2015.