German solar PV additions to reach 13 GW this year – engineers’ association

Germany will likely far exceed the government target for installing new PV arrays this year, the country’s engineering association VDI said. Additional capacity installations are set to reach 13 gigawatts (GW) compared to the government target of 9 GW, the lobby group said in a status report. “Photovoltaics is well on its way to becoming the cornerstone of the electricity supply in Germany,” VDI said. “The solar industry is optimistic that it will achieve the German government's targets of almost tripling installed photovoltaic capacity from around 78 gigawatts today to 215 gigawatts by 2030.” Yet VDI renewable expert Gerhard Stryi-Hipp warned that it is imperative to develop the country’s energy market further to ensure that the increasing share of intermittent renewable power does not reduce Germany’s high level of supply security.

The engineers’ association called to diversify the range of countries that PV systems are produced in to reduce the “monopoly-like dependence” on China and strengthen international competition. “Germany still has a very high level of technological expertise in solar and production technology, making it possible to rebuild PV production and thus participate in the strong growth of the photovoltaic market,” the association said. Germany plans to make solar PV one of its central energy sources as it aims to ramp up the share of renewable electricity to 80 percent of consumption by 2030.