Germany sees solar grow by another 162 MW in August

German grid operator Bundesnetzagentur has reported that 6,537 new PV installations with a combined capacity of 162.4 MW were registered in August. Rooftop installations accounted for around 113.8 MW of the total. The agency also said that just 73.2 MW of the new capacity registered in August is now operational.

Approximately 48.6 MW of the registered capacity comes in the form of 26 ground-mounted solar plants, of which 15 were developed under Germany’s auction scheme for PV projects up to 10 MW in size.

The Bundesnetzagentur also reported that 108.3 kW of PV projects developed under the tenants’ solar power supply regime were registered between July and August. It is still uncertain, however, if these projects will be granted incentives by Germany’s Ministry of Economics and Technology, as the new rules for this special regime must still be approved by the European Commission.

The agency also said the FIT levels for October will remain unchanged. The FIT for small-sized rooftop PV will range from €010.61 per kWh to €012.20 per kWh, depending on the system size, while the rate for rooftop solar up to 100 kW will be €008.44 per kWh. For direct marketing, which is mandatory for all PV systems with a capacity over 100 kW, the tariffs range between €008.84 and €012.60 per kWh.

This year, the additions have been consistently above the previous year's level. By the end of August, newly installed photovoltaic power in Germany reached about 1,200 MW, according to figures from the Bundesnetzagentur. This leaves no question as to whether the politically intended 2,500 MW of photovoltaic expansion will be achieved this year. This goal had already been clearly missed in previous years. Only in May and June did deployment in Germany reach just over 200 MW. Installations in August, however, were slightly above the capacity that was added in July. Total cumulative installed PV power in Germany hit 42.3 GW at the end of August.