Solar power plants increased in number in Germany, but module production fell

Berlin, July 29 (CTK correspondent) – In April, 3.4 million photovoltaic installations with a rated capacity of 81.5 gigawatts were in operation in Germany. Year on year, the number of solar installations on rooftops and land increased by 29.8 percent, while their installed capacity rose by 20.5 percent. The Federal Statistical Office announced the figures on photovoltaic development in its report today. It also said that solar module production in Germany had fallen significantly.

In April last year, the statistical office recorded around 2.7 million photovoltaic systems with a capacity of 67.6 gigawatts. By April this year, there were 700,000 more such installations. The increase does not reflect so-called balcony power plants; the figures cover installations with their own electricity meters measuring the electricity they supply to the grid.

Last year, 53.6 million megawatt-hours of electricity were fed into the grid. This means that 11.9 percent of the electricity supplied to the grid in Germany came from photovoltaics, a record share. In 2022, the share was 10.6 percent.

Statisticians nevertheless pointed out that production of solar modules for photovoltaic power plants in Germany fell sharply in the first quarter of this year, by 52.8 percent year on year. Production of solar collectors, which convert solar energy into heat for water heating and space heating, fell by 67.1 percent over the same period.

Along with the decline in photovoltaic system production in Germany, imports of the systems into the country also fell. China remains the most important supplier of these modules; Germany sourced 86.4 percent of all its imported photovoltaic systems from China last year.

In Germany, which has a population of around 84 million, the number of households generating electricity from photovoltaic installations not only for their own use but also feeding it into the grid is rising, according to the statistical office. In 2022, around 1.8 million households, or about one in 20, earned income from selling solar power, averaging 183 euros (CZK 4,640) a month. By comparison, in 2015, when 1.2 million households supplied this electricity to the grid, the income averaged 266 euros (CZK 6,750) a month. According to statisticians, the lower average earnings are likely due to lower feed-in tariffs for newly installed systems.