Solar power in Germany

Solar power Germany 2016 fact sheet: electricity generation, development, investments, capacity, employment and the public opinion. [1]
Electricity by source in 2016
Nuclear Brown coal Hard coal Natural gas Wind Solar Biogas HydroCircle frame.svg
  •   Nuclear: 80 TWh (14.8%)
  •   Brown coal: 134.9 TWh (24.9%)
  •   Hard coal: 99.4 TWh (18.3%)
  •   Natural gas: 46.4 TWh (8.6%)
  •   Wind: 77.8 TWh (14.4%)
  •   Solar: 37.5 TWh (6.9%)
  •   Biomass: 47 TWh (8.7%)
  •   Hydro: 19.1 TWh (3.5%)
Net generated electricity in 2016[2]

Solar power in Germany consists almost exclusively of photovoltaics (PV) and accounted for an estimated 6.2 to 6.9 percent of the country's net-electricity generation in 2016.[3][4] About 1.5 million photovoltaic systems were installed all over the country in 2014, ranging from small rooftop systems, to medium commercial and large utility-scale solar parks.[3]:5

The country has been amongst the world's top PV installer for several years, with total installed capacity amounting to 40,782 megawatts (MW) by the end of November 2016,[5] behind only China. However, new installations of PV systems have declined steadily since the record year of 2011.[6] It's estimated that about half of the country's jobs have been lost in the solar sector in recent years. While proponents from the PV industry blame the lack of governmental commitment, others point out the financial burden associated with the fast paced roll-out of photovoltaics, rendering the transition to renewable energies unsustainable in their view.[7]

The official governmental goal is to continuously increase renewables' contribution to the country's overall electricity consumption. Long-term minimum targets are 35% by 2020, 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.[3]:6 The country is increasingly producing more electricity than it needs, driving down spot-market prices[8] and exporting its surplus of electricity to its neighboring countries (record exported surplus of 32 TWh in 2013 and 34 TWh in 2014).[2] 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.[3]:17 As the combined share of fluctuating wind and solar is approaching 17 percent on the national electricity mix, other issues are becoming more pressing. 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.[3]:7

The nation's largest solar farms are located in Meuro, Neuhardenberg and Templin, with capacities beyond 100 MW. Also, concentrated solar power (CSP), another 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. Moreover, solar heating does not use solar energy for power generation and is therefore not included in this article.

History

Price of solar PV systems
History of PV roof-top prices in euros per kilowatt (€/kW).[9]

Germany was one of the first countries to deploy grid-scale PV power. In 2004, it was the first country, together with Japan, to reach 1 GW of cumulative installed PV capacity. Since then, 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 decreased more than 50% in 5 years since 2006.[10]

More than 7 GW of PV capacity had been installed annually during the record years of 2010, 2011 and 2012. For this period, the installed capacity of 22.5 GW represented almost 30 percent of the worldwide deployed photovoltaics. Solar PV provided 18 TWh of electricity in 2011, about 3% of total electricity.[7] On midday of Saturday May 26, 2012, solar energy provided over 40% of total electricity consumption in Germany, and 20% for the 24h-day.

Since 2013, the number of new installations declined significantly due to more restrictive governmental policies. The federal government has set a target of 66 GW of installed solar PV capacity by 2030,[11] to be reached with an annual increase of 2.5–3.5 GW,[12] and a goal of 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2050.[13]

Governmental policies

Feed-in tariff for rooftop solar[14]
10
20
30
40
50
60
2001
2005
2010
2015
History of German feed-in tariffs in ¢/kWh for rooftop solar of less than 10 kWp since 2001. For 2016, it amounted to 12.31 ¢/kWh.[14]

As of 2012, 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[15] (approximately 15% of the total domestic cost of electricity).[16] On the other hand, as expensive peak power plants are displaced, the price at the power exchange is reduced due to the so-called merit order effect.[17] Germany set a world record for solar power production with 25.8 GW produced at midday on April 20 and April 21, 2015.[18]

According to the solar power industry, a feed-in tariff is the most effective means of developing solar power.[19] 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.[20]

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.[21]

The current version of the EEG only guarantees financial assistance as long as the overall PV capacity has not yet reached 52 GW. 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 percent share from renewable energy sources by 2025 and a 55 to 60 percent share by 2035.[22]

As of November 2016, 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.[23][24]

Grid capacity and stability issues

German electricity generation on May 25 and May 26, 2012

Approximately 9 GW of photovoltaic plants in Germany are being retrofitted to shut down[25] 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.[26][27][28]

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.[29] In December 2012, the president of Germany's "Bundesnetzagentur", the Federal Network Agency, stated that there is "no indication", that the switch to renewables is causing more power outages.[30] Amory Lovins from the Rocky Mountain Institute wrote about the German Energiewende in 2013, calling the discussion about grid stability a "disinformation campaign".[31]

Potential

Map of average solar radiation in Germany. For most of the country annual average values are in between 1100 and 1300 kWh per square metre.
Solar potential

Germany has about the same solar potential as Alaska, which has an average of 3.08 sun hours/day in Fairbanks.
Source: NREL, based on an average of 30 years of weather data.[32]

Statistics

Annual Solar Capacity Added
LCOE comparison of renewable technologies and conventional power plants in cents/kWh.
Solar PV's share in the overall consumed electricity grew exponentially since 1990, doubling every 1.56 years, or growing 56% annually on average. The doubling time and growth rate differ from those of average power and installed capacity as the overall consumption also increased over time.

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. Solar PV capacity doubled on average every 18 months in this period; an annual growth rate of more than 50 percent. Since about 2012 growth has slowed down significantly.

Generation

Year Capacity (MW) Annual generation (GWh) % of gross electricity consumption
1990 2 1 0.0002
1991 2 1 0.0002
1992 6 4 0.0007
1993 9 3 0.0006
1994 12 7 0.001
1995 18 7 0.001
1996 28 12 0.002
1997 42 18 0.003
1998 54 35 0.006
1999 70 30 0.005
2000 114 60 0.010
2001 176 76 0.013
2002 296 162 0.028
2003 435 313 0.052
2004 1,105 557 0.091
2005 2,056 1,282 0.21
2006 2,899 2,220 0.36
2007 4,170 3,075 0.49
2008 6,120 4,420 0.72
2009 10,566 6,583 1.13
2010 17,944 11,729 1.90
2011 25,429 19,599 3.23
2012 33,033 26,380 4.35
2013 36,337 31,010 5.13
2014 38,343 36,056 6.08
2015 39,787 38,737 6.5
Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, for capacity figures[33]:7 and other figures[33]: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. For 2014, net-consumption stands at approximately 6.9% (vs. 6.1% for gross-consumption).[3]:5
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
Nationwide growth of PV capacity in megawatts on a linear scale since 1992.
Source: EPIA[34] and Bundesnetzagentur.[5]

PV capacity by federal states

Watts per capita by state in 2013[35]
  10 - 50 Watts
  50 - 100 Watts
  100 - 200 Watts
  200 - 350 Watts
  350 - 500 Watts
  500 - 750 Watts
  >750 Watts

Germany is made up of sixteen, partly sovereign federal states or Länder. The southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg account for about half of the total, nationwide PV deployment and are also the wealthiest and most populous states after North Rhine-Westphalia. However, photovoltaic installations are widespread throughout the sixteen states and are not limited to the southern region of the country as demonstrated by a watts per capita distribution.

PV capacity in MW[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]
State 2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015 
Baden-Württemberg 1,245 1,772 2,907 3,753 5,838.0 6,111.8 4,984.5 5,117.0
Bavaria 2,359 3,955 6,365 7,961 9,700.5 10,424.7 11,099.8 11,309.2
Berlin 11 19 68 50 63.2 68.6 80.5 83.9
Brandenburg 72 219 638 1,313 2,576.1 2,711.2 2,901.0 2,981.5
Bremen 4 5 14 30 32.3 35.3 39.9 42.2
Hamburg 7 9 27 25 32.1 35.8 36.5 36.9
Hesse 350 549 868 1,174 1,520.9 1,661.8 1,768.5 1,811.2
Lower Saxony 352 709 1,479 2,051 3,045.1 3,257.4 3,490.6 3,580.4
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 48 88 263 455 957.7 1,098.5 1,337.9 1,414.4
North Rhine-Westphalia 617 1,046 1,925 2,601 3,582.0 3,878.5 4,234.9 4,363.7
Rhineland-Palatinate 332 504 841 1,124 1,528.2 1,670.8 1,862.2 1,920.5
Saarland 67 100 158 218 318.8 365.4 407.3 415.8
Saxony 168 288 529 836 1,280.8 1,412.3 1,575.1 1,607.5
Saxony-Anhalt 94 181 450 817 1,377.9 1,556.1 1,828.7 1,962.6
Schleswig-Holstein 159 310 695 992 1,351.5 1,407.8 1,468.6 1,498.3
Thuringia 95 159 327 467 871.7 1,013.9 1,119.9 1,187.4
Cumulative total installed 5,979 9,913 17,554 23,866 34,076.7 36,710.1 38,236.0 39,332.4
Capacity added 3,934 7,641 6,312 10,210.7 2,633.4 1,525.9 1,096.4

Photovoltaic power stations

Largest German photovoltaic power stations (20 MW or larger)[44]
PV Power station Capacity
in MWp		 Notes
Solarpark Meuro 166 70 MW completed 2011, 166 MW in 2012[44]
Neuhardenberg Solar Park 145 Completed September 2012[44][45]
Templin Solar Park 128.5 Completed September 2012[44][46]
Brandenburg-Briest Solarpark 91 Commissioned in December 2011
Solarpark Finow Tower 84.7 Completed in 2010/2011
Eggebek Solar Park 83.6 Completed in 2011
Senftenberg Solarpark 82 Phase II and III completed 2011, another 70 MW phase planned[47]
Finsterwalde Solar Park 80.7 Phase I completed 2009, phase II and III 2010 [48][49]
Lieberose Photovoltaic Park 71.8 Completed in 2009[50][51]
Solarpark Alt Daber 67.8 Completed in 2011[44]
Strasskirchen Solar Park 54 Commissioned in December 2009[44]
Walddrehna Solar Park 52.3 Completed June 2012
Waldpolenz Solar Park 52 550,000 CdTe modules. Completed December 2008[52][53]
Tutow Solar Park 52 Tutow I completed in 2009, II in 2010, III in 2011
Kothen Solar Park 45 Operational since 2009
Jura Solar Park 43 Completed in 2014[54]
Jännersdorf Solar Park 40.5 Commissioned in 2012
Fürstenwalde Solar Park 39.6 Commissioned in 2011
Reckahn Solar Park 36 Completed in 2011
Perleberg Solar Park 35 Completed in 2012
Krughütte Solar Park 29.1 Completed in 2012
Solarpark Heideblick 27.5 Completed in 2011
Solarpark Eiche 26.5 Completed in 2011
Lauingen Energy Park 25.7 Completed in 2010
Pocking Solar Park 22 Completed in March 2006
Mengkofen Solar Park 21.7 Commissioned in December 2009
Rothenburg Solar Park 20 Commissioned in 2009
Other notable photovoltaic (PV) power plants[55]
Name & Description Capacity
in MWp		 Location Annual yield
in MWh		 Capacity factor Coordinates
Erlasee Solar Park, 1408 SOLON 12 Arnstein 14,000 0.13 50°0′10″N 9°55′15″E / 50.00278°N 9.92083°E / 50.00278; 9.92083 (Erlasee Solar Park)
Gottelborn Solar Park 8.4 Göttelborn n.a. n.a. –
Bavaria Solarpark, 57,600 solar modules 6.3 Mühlhausen 6,750 0.12 49°09′29″N 11°25′59″E / 49.15806°N 11.43306°E / 49.15806; 11.43306 (Bavaria Solarpark)
Rote Jahne Solar Park, 92,880 thin-film modules,
First Solar, FS-260, FS-262 and FS-265[56][57]		 6.0 Doberschütz 5,700 0.11 –
Bürstadt Solar Farm, 30,000 BP Solar modules 5.0 Bürstadt 4,200 0.10 49°39′N 8°28′E / 49.650°N 8.467°E / 49.650; 8.467
Espenhain, 33,500 Shell Solar modules 5.0 Espenhain 5,000 0.11 51°12′N 12°31′E / 51.200°N 12.517°E / 51.200; 12.517
Geiseltalsee Solarpark, 24,864 BP solar modules 4.0 Merseburg 3,400 0.10 51°22′N 12°0′E / 51.367°N 12.000°E / 51.367; 12.000 (Geiseltalsee Solarpark)
Hemau Solar Farm, 32,740 solar modules 4.0 Hemau 3,900 0.11 49°3′N 11°47′E / 49.050°N 11.783°E / 49.050; 11.783
Solara, Sharp and Kyocera solar modules 3.3 Dingolfing 3,050 0.11 48°38′N 12°30′E / 48.633°N 12.500°E / 48.633; 12.500
Bavaria Solarpark, Sharp solar modules 1.9 Günching n.a. n.a. 49°16′N 11°34′E / 49.267°N 11.567°E / 49.267; 11.567 (Bavaria Solarpark)
Bavaria Solarpark, Sharp solar modules 1.9 Minihof n.a. n.a. –

Companies

Some companies have collapsed since 2008, facing harsh competition from imported solar panels. Some were taken over like Bosch Solar Energy by SolarWorld. Major German solar companies include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "GERMANY: SOLAR POWER FACTSHEET 2016". Strom-Report.
  2. 1 2 "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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Recent facts about photovoltaics in Germany". Fraunhofer ISE. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Electricity production from solar and wind in Germany in 2014" (pdf). Germany: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. 2014-07-21. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2014-07-22. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Photovoltaikanlagen: Datenmeldungen sowie EEG-Vergütungssätze" [Monthly reported new installations of PV systems and current feed-in tariffs] (in German). Bundesnetzagentur. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "Germany adds about 610 MWp of solar PV in H1 2015". SeeNews Renewales. 3 August 2015.
  7. 1 2 "German solar power output up 60 pct in 2011". Reuters. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  8. ↑ Electricity Spot-Prices and Production Data in Germany 2013
  9. ↑ Average turn-key prices for roof-top PV systems up to 100 kWp. Sources: for data since 2009 photovoltaik-guide.de, pv-preisindex , using for each year average price of month of January. Data source for previous years (2006-2008), see Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft e.V. (BSW-Solar), September 2009, page 4, quarterly figures from EUPD-Research.
  10. ↑ BSW-Solar – Statistische Zahlen der deutschen Solarstrombranche (Photovoltaik), Oct 2011
  11. ↑ Property Wire (2010-04-22). "Germany Reducing Incentives For Solar Property Investment". NuWire Investor. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  12. ↑ Lang, Matthias (21 November 2011). "New German 7.5 GWp PV Record by End of 2011". German Energy Blog. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  13. ↑ Germany
  14. 1 2 "Annual Report 2015". IEA-PVPS. 13 May 2016. p. 63.
  15. ↑ Lang, Matthias (14 October 2011). "2012 EEG Surcharge Increases Slightly to 3.592 ct/kWh". German Energy Blog. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Europe's Energy Portal » Fuel, Natural Gas and Electricity Prices From Past to Present".
  17. ↑ Morris, Craig (2 February 2012). "Merit order effect of PV in Germany". Renewables International. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "Transparency in Energy Markets - Germany".
  19. ↑ The U.S. Needs a Feed-in Tariff
  20. ↑ PV Learning Curves:Past and Future Drivers of Cost Reduction
  21. ↑ "Changes for solar in Germany". renewablesinternational.net. 3 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  22. ↑
  23. ↑ "Federal state supports "tenant electricity" models with solar PV". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, Germany. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  24. ↑ "Minister Remmel: "NRW macht es vor — Mieterinnen und Mieter können künftig auch von der Energiewende profitieren." — Umweltministerium fördert Mieterstrom-Modelle und Energiespeicher" [Minister Remmel: "NRW makes it possible — tenants can also benefit from the Energiewende in the future." — Environment Ministry promotes tenant electricity models and energy storage] (Press release) (in German). Düsseldorf, Germany: Umweltministerium North Rhine-Westphalia. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  25. ↑ Lang, Matthias. "Study Recommends Retrofitting of PV Power Plants to Solve 50.2 Hz Problem". German Energy Blog. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  26. ↑ The “50.2 Hz” problem for photovoltaic power plants Archived June 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  27. ↑ "Timeline of the utility frequency: Timeline".
  28. ↑ Impact of Large-scale Distributed Generation on Network Stability During Over-Frequency Events & Development of Mitigation Measures
  29. ↑ Michael Döring (1 January 2013). "Dealing with the 50.2 Hz problem". Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Germany's Network Agency says power outages "unlikely"". 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  31. ↑ Amory Lovins (23 August 2013). "Separating Fact from Fiction in Accounts of Germany's Renewables Revolution". Archived from the original on 13 July 2014.
  32. ↑ "PV Watts". NREL. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  33. 1 2 Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie – Zeitreihen zur Entwicklung der erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland (August 2016)
  34. ↑ "Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2014-2018". www.epia.org. EPIA - European Photovoltaic Industry Association. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  35. ↑ "Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2014-2018". www.epia.org. EPIA - European Photovoltaic Industry Association. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  36. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG-Statistikbericht 2008
  37. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG-Statistikbericht 2009
  38. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG-Statistikbericht 2010
  39. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG-Statistikbericht 2011
  40. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG in Zahlen 2012
  41. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG in Zahlen 2013
  42. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – EEG in Zahlen 2014
  43. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur – Installierte EE-Leistung zum 31.12.2015 (vorläufig)
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 6 PV Resources.com (2009). World's largest photovoltaic power plants
  45. ↑ LIMA Group GmbH. "Contract for services - LIMA Group".
  46. ↑ CFB News: Commerz Real Acquires Germany’s Largest Solar Park. "CFB-Fonds".
  47. ↑ "SolarServer: 78 MW of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic plant connected to grid in Senftenberg, Germany".
  48. ↑ Good Energies, NIBC Infrastructure Partners acquire Finsterwalde II and Finsterwalde III
  49. ↑ Implementation of the 39 MWp – „Solar Park Finsterwalde II and Finsterwalde III“
  50. ↑ "Lieberose solar farm becomes Germany's biggest, World's second-biggest".
  51. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany (20 August 2009). "Leaders In Alternative Energy: Germany Turns On World's Biggest Solar Power Project". SPIEGEL ONLINE.
  52. ↑ Germany's largest Solar parks connected to the grid (19 Dec 08)
  53. ↑ Large photovoltaic plant in Muldentalkreis
  54. ↑ Photovoltaik in Oberfranken: IBC SOLAR stellt Jura-Solarpark mit insgesamt 43 MW fertig; Energiewende soll den Wirtschaftsstandort auch künftig stärken, 26 February 2014
  55. ↑ "Large-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants - Top 50".
  56. ↑ Construction Complete on 6 MW Thin-Film PV Installation in Germany Renewable Energy Access, 5 April 2007.
  57. ↑ https://www.webcitation.org/6QwLVgSYo Rote Jahne Factsheet (de)
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