Germany: 313 MW of newly installed PV in July

03. September 2013

The Federal Network Agency in Germany has presented the latest figures for added photovoltaic capacity in the country. Up to now around 2,110 MW of total capacity has been registered. Solar parks exceeding 10 MW are no longer being developed.

The Federal Network Agency has published the added photovoltaic capacity figures for the month of July. 12,236 new photovoltaic systems with a total capacity of 313 MW have been installed and registered in Germany. Once again no new solar parks exceeding 10 MW have been developed. Since the abolition of subsidies for solar PV installations with more than 10 MW capacity, such projects have become a rarity. Still solar parks in this magnitude which were officially inaugurated this year profited from the transition phase regulations and had until end of September 2012 for technical commissioning to be concluded. Between January 2009 and July 2013, nearly 34.5 GW of PV power has been installed in Germany, says the Agency. This year, new PV system development amounted to about 2,110 MW up to end of July.

With the onset of autumn, FITs in Germany sink further. FITs for solar power fell to €0.1006 per kWh for PV systems with more than 1 MW. For small rooftop systems, the remuneration fell to €0.1230 to €0.1454 per kWh, depending on system size. In October the tariffs will be lowered by 1.8% again. Then the tariffs for PV systems between 1 and 10 MW will for the first time fall below the €0.10 per kWh line- to €0.0988/kWh.

Late last week the Federal Network Agency approved the grid development plan for onshore and offshore power for 2014. The grid expansion scenarios with the plans at hand were examined and the Agency slightly increased the overall expected wind energy expansion figures until 2024 to 55 GW. With regards to offshore wind energy, the figures were moderately decreased to 12.7 GW. According to Jochen Homann, President of the Federal Network AGency, with the onset of the held back attitude towards expansion, projected PV capacity in 2024 now stands at 56 GW.