|
Information
updated as of August, 2007
|
| Solar
Energy |
| The
"Feed-in Law" in Germany permits customers
to receive preferential tariffs for solar generated
electricity depending on the nature and size of the installation.
Under the new tariff structure introduced in 2004, the base
level of compensation for ground-mounted systems can be up
to 45.7 euro cents/kWh. PV installations on buildings receive
higher rates of up to 57.4 euro cents/kWh. |
| The
Feed-in Law requires that the tariff paid for solar electricity
be reduced by 5% per year, and by 6.5% per annum for ground-mounted
systems. |
| The
Feed-in Law fixes tariffs for approved renewable energy projects
for a 20-year period from the plant commissioning and will
apply incremental price cuts. Tariffs were initially set at
48.1 cents per kilowatt hour for solar energy, 8.6 cents per
kWh for wind, from 9.6 to 8.2 cents per kWh for biomass, 8.4
to 6.7 cents per kWh for geothermal and 7.2 to 6.3 cents per
kWh for hydropower, waste and sewage gas. |
| Bavaria
tops the list of state markets in Germany
in 2008. |
| Some
20,000 solar electricity systems yielding an output of about
145 Megawatts (MW) were installed in 2003, almost twice the
volume installed in the previous year. With these additions,
the total solar electricity capacity in Germany is now estimated
at over 400 Megawatts. |
| Germany
saw slow growth in 2006, but still remains by far the largest
PV market in the world. 968
Megawatts of PV were installed in Germany in 2006. |
| The
German solar market generated total revenues of over 800 million
euros in 2003. |
| The
German PV industry generates over 10,000 jobs in production,
distribution and installation. |
| Over
90% of solar PV installations are in grid-tied applications
in Germany. The balance is off-grid (or stand alone) systems. |
PV
Installations by Year in Germany (in Megawatts)
| |
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
|
Total
|
0.60
|
1.00
|
3.10
|
3.5
|
4.0
|
5.9
|
10.6
|
14.5
|
12.6
|
16.5
|
44.0
|
80.0
|
83.0 |
145.0
|
|
| The
German Government provided, through the KfW Bank, loans totaling
1.7 billion euros for the procurement of PV systems under
the 100,000 Roofs Program, which terminated at the end of
2003. Loans are still available, but under slightly less advantageous
conditions. |
| The
world's largest PV installation is in Germany, at Hemau in
Bavaria. It consists of 32,740 solar modules with a combined
peak power output of 4 Megawatts. |
| Some
German states have subsidy programs for PV installations that
can be used in combination with the national Feed-in Law.
|
| Click
here to go to Solar Energy companies and links by topic
in Germany on this site. |
| The
European Photovoltaic Industries Association (EPIA) represents
the PV industry in Europe. Its latest views and European PV
Road Map may be found at this
link. |
| Click
here to go to the German section of the International
Solar Energy Society (ISES). Web site is in the German language
and covers both solar photovoltaics and solar thermal. Their
e-mail address is info@dgs-solar.org. |
| German
Energy and Electricity Industry
|
| German
domestic energy sources in 1998 were: Coal: 46%, Nuclear power:
31%, Natural Gas: 14%, Renewable
Energy: 6% and Oil: 3%. In consumption terms, though,
oil accounted for 44%, or 2.8 million barrels per day. |
| Of
the renewable energy segment, wind energy accounts for about
58%, Hydropower 30%, Biomass 12%, and solar and other source
for the balance. |
| Six
electricity generation companies account for about 80% of
total generation. Mergers could reduce this to three over
the near term. The Utility market has around 70 regional Utilities
and 900 municipal Utilities. |
