Industry calls for reforms despite solar boom

04.07.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Photovoltaics supplied almost 60 billion kWh of electricity in Germany in 2024, but the solar boom is clashing with the dispute over new grid fees. The Climate Foundation therefore makes proposals.

More and more private households and companies in Germany are relying on electricity from the sun's rays. According to the Federal Statistical Office, photovoltaic systems fed a total of around 59.5 billion kWh of electricity into the public grid in 2024. This means that solar energy covered 13.8 percent of total domestic electricity production. In the previous year, the share had been 12 percent. According to the authority, a good 4.2 million photovoltaic systems with a nominal output of around 100,000 MW were installed in Germany in March 2025, an increase of 23.7 percent within one year.

Boom stands on shaky ground

While the expansion of photovoltaics in Germany is progressing dynamically, the country is lagging well behind other countries in the production of solar modules. The Federal Statistical Office reports a sharp drop for 2024: the production of solar modules in Germany fell by more than half to 1.5 million units, a decline of a good 56% compared to the previous year. This negative trend also continued in the first quarter of 2025.

In international trade, China remains by far the most important supplier of photovoltaic systems. Almost 86% of the systems imported to Germany in 2024 came from the People's Republic. Parallel to the discussion about production and import dependencies, a proposal from the Federal Network Agency is currently causing debate. The agency is planning a fundamental reform of grid fees.

Solar industry fears grid fee reform

In May 2025, it published a discussion paper on the so-called "Framework definition of the general grid fee system for electricity" (Agnes). According to this, operators of renewable energy systems could also have to pay grid fees for feeding their electricity into the grid in future. In addition, more construction cost subsidies for grid expansion are to be borne by system operators.

The Aachen-based Solarenergie-Förderverein Deutschland (SFV) sharply criticizes these proposals. Grid fees for feeders mean a double burden, explains the first chairman Prof. Eberhard Waffenschmidt. The electricity customer is already paying for the use of the grid. "That would be like the recipient of a letter having to stick on another stamp," says Waffenschmidt. Instead of additional costs, the association is calling for a remuneration system that specifically supports investments in storage, control technology and grid expansion.

Foundation presents 10-point plan for PV

The Berlin-based Climate Neutrality Foundation (SKN) also sees a need for reform - albeit in a different area. Its Director Rainer Baake recently criticized the plans of Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche to lower the expansion targets for photovoltaics. "It's not the expansion targets that need to be cut, but the costs," said Baake. Photovoltaics is the cheapest form of electricity generation. Every new system displaces fossil fuels, reduces dependence on imports and avoids CO2 emissions.

The foundation has presented a 10-point plan to make PV expansion more cost-efficient and grid-friendly in the future. According to this plan, the expansion of ground-mounted systems in particular should be increased. The SKN proposes increasing the proportion of ground-mounted systems in PV expansion from the current 50 percent to 65 percent. According to the foundation, the cost of ground-mounted PV is around 450 euros per kW of installed capacity. In contrast, systems on existing buildings cost between 700 and 1,500 euros per kW.

In addition, the SKN recommends increasing the tender volumes for ground-mounted PV systems to 14,000 MW per year. The feed-in tariff should be capped at 10 cents per kWh in the short term and gradually reduced to 7 cents per kWh by 2030. This could further reduce the costs of expansion and at the same time create investment security for the industry, which is dominated by SMEs.

The proposals also focus on grid-friendly incentives. The foundation is calling for mandatory time-variable grid fees by 2028 for all electricity customers with PV systems, heat pumps or electric vehicles. In addition, direct marketing for smaller systems should be expanded. This would allow operators to adapt their feed-in to electricity price signals in a targeted manner, for example through battery storage or temporary curtailment in the event of negative electricity prices.

The paper by the Climate Neutrality Foundation on PV policy is available to download as a PDF.

Author: Susanne Harmsen