After adding 156.5 MW in March, Germany saw the installation of new PV systems with a combined capacity of 225.3 MW in April, according to figures published by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The rise represents the highest monthly increase registered this year.
The advance was driven by rooftops as April saw 6,411 new PV systems totaling almost 199 MW reported, of which 4,093 – with a combined capacity of 150 MW – were put into operation. The remaining rooftop systems concern pre and post-notifications.
But take-up of ground-mounted systems was sluggish. The Federal Network Agency reports the commissioning of 27 new plants totalling just 24.4 MW in capacity. Nine projects from the tenders were included. However only two solar parks with a capacity of more than 750 kW are listed. The remaining ground-mounted systems are usually close to that limit, beyond which they are obliged to take part in the tendering process.
As for PV belonging to tenants, only 22 systems – totaling 712 kW – were reported in April, and some of the projects had already been put into operation last year, the figures show. From January to April, photovoltaic systems with a total output of just over 1.6 MW were reported as tenant electricity projects. Since the introduction of a regulation requiring the reporting of tenant systems installed since the end of July 2017 came into effect, 109 installations totalling 2.84 MW have been registered.
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According to the Bundesnetzagentur figures, the first four months of the year saw 800 MW of photovoltaic power registered in Germany, bolstering the hope of German solar industry association BSW-Solar that this year, for the first time since 2013, the politically defined annual target of 2,500 MW of newly installed photovoltaic power could be achieved.
By the end of April, the installed capacity of subsidized PV systems in Germany increased to 43.78 GW.
Solar subsidies have remained unchanged since July 2017 and will stay at the same level until at least the end of July 2018. The FITs for rooftop systems range between €0.1061 ($0.12) and €0.1220/kWh, depending on system size. For other facilities the rate is €0.0844/kWh. In the direct market – mandatory for photovoltaic systems from 100 kW upwards – the applied value ranges between €0.0884 and €0.1260/kWh.
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