Source: Energy & Management Powernews, June 22, 2022
The Federal Statistical Office recorded 10% more installed PV capacity in Germany in the first quarter of 2022 and a third more electricity from sunshine than in the same quarter of the previous year.
The photovoltaic capacity installed in Germany in March 2022 already amounted to 58,400 MW, almost 10% more than in March 2021, the Federal Statistical Office reported on June 21. In addition, electricity feed-in from photovoltaics (PV) increased by 34.7% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. More and more companies, as well as private households, were using the sun's energy to generate electricity.
As a result, the office recorded 2.2 million PV systems on roofs and properties in March 2022. In January 2018, when the figures were first collected, there were just over 1.7 million systems with a nominal capacity of 42,300 MW, it said. Since then, the number of systems has increased by nearly 34%, while installed capacity has increased by 38.3%. Photovoltaic systems were able to feed around 8.8 billion kWh of electricity from sunlight into the grid in the first quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2021, it was 6.6 billion kWh.
Compared to the first quarter of 2018, when 5.4 billion kWh were fed into the grid, the grid feed-in has thus increased by 64.3%. The share of photovoltaics in total electricity generation also increased, it said: In the first quarter of 2022, photovoltaics accounted for 6.3% of total electricity generation in Germany. In the first quarter of the previous year, solar power still had a share of 4.7%, in the first quarter of 2018 it had been at 3.5%.
Solar power as a source of income for households
For many private households, solar power is not only energy, but also a source of income, the office said. In 2020, about 1.4 million private households, or 3.6% of all private households, had income from feeding solar power into the grid. That was almost 30% more than in 2014, the first year this figure was collected.
The income of these households from electricity sales was most recently 174 euros per month on average, about the same as the previous year (177 euros). Compared to 2014 with 285 euros, the average income fell by 39%. One reason for this decline is likely to be the falling feed-in tariff for newly installed photovoltaic systems under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Currently, the remuneration is less than 7 Ct/kWh.
3.5 billion euros in revenue in the PV industry
The growing spread of photovoltaics is also reflected in the revenue figures of companies offering products and services for the use of solar energy, according to the authority. Thus, within five years, sales of PV systems and components rose from just over 2.5 billion euros in 2016 to just over 3.5 billion euros in 2020, an increase of 39%. The results on the income of private households come from the Current Economic Accounts (CES). They do not include the self-employed, farmers and households with a monthly income of over EUR 18,000. The data on sales come from the survey "Goods and services for environmental protection", in which companies in Germany's manufacturing and service sectors reported data.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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