Solar power in Germany

<a href="/facts/Solar_power/NpgmEbU2">Solar power</a> accounted for an estimated 15% of <a href="/facts/Electricity_in_Germany/KFB9PzcL">electricity production in Germany</a> in 2024, up from 1.9% in 2010 and less than 0.1% in 2000.
Germany has been among the <a href="/facts/Growth_of_photovoltaics/q7Tgz3Gz">world's top PV installer</a> for several years, with total installed capacity amounting to 81.8 <a href="/facts/Gigawatt/VK8oqRrm">gigawatts</a> (GW) at the end of 2023. Germany's 974 watts of solar PV per capita (2023) is the third highest in the world, behind only <a href="/facts/Solar_power_in_Australia/e7ySWS5U">Australia</a> and <a href="/facts/Solar_power_in_the_Netherlands/N1qVlDt3">the Netherlands</a>. Germany's official government plans are to continuously increase renewables' contribution to the country's overall electricity consumption; current targets are 80% renewable electricity by 2030 and full decarbonization before 2040.
<a href="/facts/Concentrated_solar_power/VdH6Cyn1">Concentrated solar power</a> (CSP), a <a href="/facts/Solar_power/NpgmEbU2">solar power</a> technology that does not use photovoltaics, has virtually no significance for Germany, as this technology demands much higher solar <a href="/facts/Insolation/SI26I7aD">insolation</a>. There is, however, a 1.5 MW experimental CSP-plant used for on-site engineering purposes rather than for commercial electricity generation, the <a href="/facts/J%25C3%25BClich_Solar_Tower/jeKFs7V6">Jülich Solar Tower</a> owned by the <a href="/facts/German_Aerospace_Center/nIeKtKqd">German Aerospace Center</a>. Germany's largest solar farms are located in <a href="/facts/Solarpark_Meuro/h5JN8FQE">Meuro</a>, <a href="/facts/Neuhardenberg_Solar_Park/SICtHNXx">Neuhardenberg</a>, and <a href="/facts/Templin_Solar_Park/vtUM76Gz">Templin</a> with capacities over 100 MW.
According to the <a href="/facts/Fraunhofer_Institute_for_Solar_Energy_Systems/zKWwFJt8">Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems</a>, in 2022, Germany generated 60.8 TWh from solar power, or 11% of Germany's gross electricity consumption.: 6 
The country is increasingly producing more electricity at specific times with high <a href="/facts/Solar_irradiation/SI26I7aD">solar irradiation</a> than it needs, driving down spot-market prices and exporting its surplus of electricity to its neighbouring countries, with a record exported surplus of 34 TWh in 2014. 
A decline in spot-prices may however raise the electricity prices for retail customers, as the spread of the guaranteed <a href="/facts/Feed-in_tariffs_in_Germany/bFNjSlzW">feed-in tariff</a> and spot-price increases as well.: 17  
As the combined share of fluctuating <a href="/facts/Wind_power/vlNN3u16">wind</a> and solar is approaching 17 per cent on the national electricity mix, other issues are becoming more pressing and others more feasible. These include adapting the <a href="/facts/Electrical_grid/RkWPqjmG">electrical grid</a>, constructing new <a href="/facts/Grid_energy_storage/SgYUxXkB">grid-storage</a> capacity, dismantling and altering <a href="/facts/Fossil_fuel/BPgxAqB7">fossil</a> and <a href="/facts/Nuclear_power/jzSyvxSn">nuclear</a> power plants and to construct a new generation of <a href="/facts/Cogeneration/nuSxEoqP">combined heat and power plants</a>.: 7

Solar power in Germany open-in-new

Solar power in Germany