Source: Energy & Management Powernews, 05 August 2022
According to a revised short study, this is not least due to financial incentives as well as relatively low regulatory hurdles. Battery storage systems are becoming more important.
A revised version of its short study on the expansion of photovoltaics (PV) in Germany was published by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) on August 4. The study is primarily based on the Market Master Data Register (MaStR), in which all generation units connected to the public power grid have had to be entered since January 2019.
According to the study, the share of rooftop systems with less than 30 kWp capacity in the expansion doubled to around 36.2 % from 2018 to 2021. As a reason for this, Dominik Peper, the author of the study, cites the "elimination of the apportionment obligation on self-consumption for PV systems in the segment between ten and 30 kW". According to the study, the share of plants in the range between ten and 20 kW increased to 11.5 %, which is more than four times higher. According to the ISE, this size is typical for PV systems on private houses.
Financial incentives promote private PV systems
The ISE explains the fact that small systems with an output of less than 10 kW are mainly installed in Germany, among other things, by the fact that their area requirements "generally correspond to the area availability on roofs of single-family houses. Since the expansion of PV systems in the private sector is desired, special financial incentives are set here. This includes, among other things, a higher feed-in tariff and exemption from the EEG levy for self-consumption. In addition, there are fewer hurdles to implementation here than in the case of multi-family dwellings."
Furthermore, private individuals are sometimes less interested in the economic viability of a PV system than in "non-financial values," such as a certain independence from established electricity suppliers or in making a contribution to the energy transition. Since 2020, the share of ground-mounted systems in new installations has increased again. From 47.5% in 2015, this fell to 24.9% by 2019, but has since risen to 39.7%.
Three German states dominate
Geographically, PV expansion is becoming increasingly evenly distributed. While the states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria achieved expansion shares of 50.5% to 74.5% from 2000 to 2010, they were down to 39.5% in 2021. By contrast, North Rhine-Westphalia almost doubled its share from 11.0% in 2001 to 19.6% last year. These three states accounted for almost 60 % of new build in 2021. Lower Saxony was in fourth place with 10.9%, followed by Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate with around 6% each. The expansion shares of Brandenburg, Berlin, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt have also increased, although in some cases at a very low level.
Predominantly since 2012, plants with integrated power limitation have been installed. This is due to the requirements of the EEG in force since then. The share of such plants in the new construction was 78.9% in 2021. Usually, the power limitation amounts to 70 %, as specified in the EEG.
Main orientation south Furthermore, most plants are oriented to the south. In 2021, their share of new construction was 41.9%. "Jumpy" has increased according to the ISE the share of those plants, in which a part of the modules is oriented to the east and the remaining part to the west. It rose from 6.9% in 2019 to 10.8% in 2021. Large systems, such as those on industrial buildings as well as on open spaces, are mostly oriented to the south. For small systems on residential buildings, on the other hand, the orientation is "tied to the conditions of the house and therefore less flexible" than for large projects.
As far as the angle of inclination is concerned, systems with about 20 to 40 degrees dominate. Such tilted modules accounted for about 57.1% of all additions in 2021. Only about 21% of new installations, on the other hand, had steeper tilt angles of 40 to 60 degrees. "Systems with shallow tilt angles are on the decline (19 % in 2021). Façade-integrated systems hardly play a role, accounting for about 0.1% of the capacity added in 2021," the study says.
Much addition of battery storage
"Strong growth" has occurred in the addition of battery storage, according to the study. It doubled from 2019 to 2020 to a total of 85,779 systems, a figure that was exceeded again in 2021: "At the end of 2021, 326,048 battery storage systems with a total capacity of 3,521 MWh had been installed in Germany, more than a third of which had only been added in 2021." The expansion, both in terms of number and capacity, was dominated by "classic PV home storage systems" with five to 10 kWh. Their share averaged about 40.3% of new capacity added from 2014 to 2021. The share of systems with ten to 20 kWh doubled to 32.8 % of the newly installed capacity, and that of large-scale storage systems with over 1,000 MWh amounted to an average of 26.8 %," states the ISE. Other power classes, on the other hand, hardly play a role.
The study by Fraunhofer ISE "Photovoltaic and Battery Storage Additions in Germany in Figures - Evaluation of the Market Master Register" is available for download on the Internet.
Author: Klaus Fischer
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