Germany deployed 434.5 MW of PV in August

Germany registered the addition of 434.5 MW of new PV capacity in August, according to the latest figures from federal network agency the Bundesnetzagentur.

This compares to 434.9 MW in July this year and 409.2 MW in August 2020.

In the first eight months of 2021, developers connected 3.61 GW of solar to the grid, compared to 3.2 GW in the same period a year earlier. The country’s cumulative solar capacity topped 56.1 GW at the end of August.

Around 294 MW of the deployed capacity comes from projects not exceeding 300 kW in size, under the feed-in tariff scheme. Only a few rooftop projects over this power threshold were installed in the country in August, which shows that the regulatory changes introduced with the new renewable energy law have had a negative impact on this market segment. Projects ranging between 300 and 750 kW, on the other hand, have the option to participate in tenders or secure a halved feed-in tariff.

Another 140 MW comes from PV plants with a capacity of over 750 kW that were selected in Germany’s tender scheme for large scale renewables.

The Bundesnetzagentur also published new compensation rates which will begin in October. The monthly decrease of solar subsidies remains at 1.4% while fixed feed-in tariffs for rooftop systems will range between €0.0714/kWh and €0.0543/kWh, depending on size.