Germany

The new capacity figure fell on the previous month, mainly because fewer ground-mounted systems went online. The monthly retreat of FIT payments will stay at 1% for the next three months. According to SolarPower Europe, Germany will be by far the largest market in Europe, with 3 GW of new capacity this year.

The final average price was slightly higher than that of the previous auction of the same kind. Successful bids were between €0.0386/kWh and €0.0515/kWh per kWh. Unlike the parallel wind energy tender, the tendered capacity was significantly oversubscribed, once again.

An analysis of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) assumes that a maximum of 2.5% of Germany’s land is needed for the energy transition. With a higher share of solar in the electricity mix, however, this percentage would be lowered to 2%. The study also says that the expansion of renewables will not endanger nature protection.

The project, under development by Gasunie, Tennet and Thyssengas, will convert wind power into green hydrogen. The plant commissioning should take place gradually starting from 2022.

The Munich-based company will receive up to €2 million for a large-scale storage facility in southern Germany. The system will consist of 52 lithium-ion car batteries –which are also used in the BMW i3 – and will be coupled with a wind farm.

It is the second decline in a row. Germany’s TSOs base their calculations on the 6 GW expansion for solar and wind expected for the coming year. The surplus on the EEG account, which was included in the calculations, was €3.65 billion.

Marking a historic moment in the German renewable energy sector, no public incentive was paid in August for PV installations up to 10 MW and selected under the country’s tender mechanism. This was due to the fact that market prices were higher than the price including the feed-in premium tariff, awarded in the tender.

From January to September 2018, solar PV systems generated 36.8 TWh in Germany, which is 13% more than they did in the first nine months of the previous year.

In the first eight months of 2018, newly installed PV capacity in Germany totaled almost 2 GW, and is already well above the previous year’s level. New residential and commercial PV systems, with a combined capacity of nearly 241 MW, have been reported to the Federal Network Agency. In October, solar incentives will drop by another 1%.

Starting from October, the Swedish furniture provider will start a test phase at five of its branches in Germany. A nationwide online sale of the “Solstrale” offer is planned to begin next February.